Ripples
by Yellow Mask
Summary: Complete. AU from 309 onwards. Following a botched mission, Sakura is made a slave by Sound, a position that could very well alter the future…especially concerning a certain familiar missing-nin. SasuSaku.
1. Capture

**Ripples**

**By Yellow Mask**

**Spoilers:** 309 and beyond

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**Chapter 1**

**Capture**

"_When a small pebble drops into a serene pool of water, it causes a ripple in the water in every direction, even disturbing distant still waters."_

_-ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2007)_

-xxx-

_'Tsunade said my compassion would be the death of me,'_ Sakura reflected bitterly. _'I just never thought she meant that literally.'_

Sakura had been sent to a village in Fire Country to deal with an outbreak of a particularly nasty strain of measles. It wasn't much of a concern to mature, healthy adults, but several toddlers had contracted the disease and later died from it. It had taken a few days, but she'd managed to isolate all those infected and those suspected of being infected, planning to let the disease run its course in those who were otherwise healthy and strong. The young children – the danger group – she'd performed healing jutsus on to cure them.

Unfortunately, such complete healing was very draining, and Sakura had set off for home with very low chakra – mistake number one.

Then, when she'd heard the sounds of battle and cries of distress on the road ahead of her, she'd sped forward to help without really considering the consequences – mistake number two.

In short, a few mistakes that had led to her current predicament – battling with a bunch of Sound ninjas in an attempt to liberate a group of travelers they were in the process of kidnapping.

A battle she was swiftly losing. Her chakra was low, she was exhausted, and she had leapt into a battle with twenty-plus enemy ninjas without really considering the consequences.

_'Good thing you can't be criminally stupid, or I'd be judged guilty as charged within five minutes.'_

The fight had gone from 'help the people they're kidnapping' to 'try not to get abducted yourself'. She didn't know why they were being so indiscriminant about the people they were grabbing up, but all their attacks had clearly been meant to incapacitate her, rather than kill – maybe Kabuto needed people for his experiments or something...

Sakura danced backwards, avoiding a spray of darts that were undoubtedly tipped with some kind of poison...and discovered she'd forgotten to take the position of the river into account when she moved.

_'Another sign you really weren't up for this battle,'_ she told herself as she let her body go limp so the tumble down the steep bank wouldn't break any limbs. _'You're not even thinking straight! Idiot!'_

The plunge into the water nearly winded her, but Sakura had enough presence of mind to refrain from breaking the surface instantly. Instead, she yielded to the current, hoping it could carry her out of danger before the breath in her lungs ran out.

She took a moment to be thankful it was the rainy season – thus, the strong current – and that the river was deep.

When Sakura finally broke the surface and clambered onto the grassy bank, she allowed herself to hope for a moment that she'd eluded them...until she heard the shouts, and the sound of many people crashing through the forest.

Whatever position these ninja held in Sound, stealth was not their strong point.

Unfortunately, she'd reached a lull in the river – the current would not sweep her along very fast here, and it certainly couldn't take her far enough away from them in time. She could run, but Sakura doubted she'd get very far. Or she could fight...and die in a blaze of glory.

Frankly, Sakura preferred the option of fighting – at least that way she wouldn't end up at the mercy of twenty-plus shinobi without morals or scruples, but...

Naruto would never forgive her. More importantly, Sakura would never forgive herself. She'd seen the despair that hovered over her friend like a cloud after their disastrous meeting with Sasuke and she wouldn't – couldn't – excuse taking another friend from him.

No matter the cost to herself.

So she mentally revised her plans. _'I'll have to get caught – for a while, at least. I'm so exhausted right now, I'll have a better chance of escaping after I've had some rest. Even if it means spending a night or two as a captive.'_

She wasn't stupid – she knew she was inviting a lot of variables into this plan by enabling her capture...but it was currently the best idea she had.

So, scraping together the last of her chakra, she performed a transformation jutsu.

She wasn't going to be captured as Haruno Sakura, because that was just inviting all kinds of trouble. She wasn't even going to be captured as a woman – something told her it wouldn't be a good idea to be a female captive.

The pulse of energy in her body died to a low-level hum, and Sakura leaned out over the water to check her handiwork.

A teenage boy gazed back at her, his skin a few shades darker than her own, with short brown hair that fell in bright green eyes.

For some reason, a change in eye colour was hard to maintain in a transformation, and as Sakura had no idea how long she would be expected to keep up this charade, she felt it was better to err on the safe side.

Hearing her pursuers closing in, Sakura swiftly shed her skirt so she would appear to be clad in unisex clothes and discarded any and all ninja trappings, shoving them into a particularly dense patch of reeds.

Then, though it was difficult to do, she sprawled herself out on the bank like a lizard sunning itself, trying to act as though she was completely unaware of the ninja closing in on her. With a bit of luck, she could pass as a boy lounging carelessly on a river bank. They'd come along, and she would...well, she was fairly certain most people would run for their lives upon encountering a group of ninja.

She tensed as they came closer, finally looking up when the Sound shinobi burst from the trees.

Sakura painted her best look of wide-eyed disbelief and shock on her features, before she scrambled to her feet and tried to run. She didn't have to fake running at civilian speeds – her exhaustion, coupled with having to maintain her transformation, and she was already so tired she thought she could be outrun by a geriatric snail.

So she wasn't surprised when her arms were grabbed and twisted sharply, forcing her to her knees.

"Boy!" one her captors hissed, his fingers clenching in her hair and pulling her head back. "Did you see a pink-haired woman come by here?"

Sakura shook her head wildly, trying to act as though she were scared speechless.

"Who cares?" another of them snapped. "We can meet our quota with this one – take him!"

Sakura found herself hustled back towards the road they'd initially tangled on. The travelers she had tried to help had been strung out in a long line, their hands bound in front of them, roped to each other by nooses around their necks. In fact, it looked a lot like...

Sakura froze as realisation hit. This was a slave line!

Of course, she shouldn't be surprised. Sound was so corrupt it came as no shock to her that they would either use slaves or profit from their sale.

Sakura allowed herself to hope they would simply be sold at some market in one of the less hospitable countries – it would be far easier to escape from there than from a Sound stronghold.

Not to mention, she might encounter...

Sakura shook her head, driving all thoughts of Sasuke out of her mind. She needed to concentrate on her own survival, first and foremost.

-xxx-

By the time the straggling slave line had reached Sound, Sakura was truly furious at the world. She was furious at herself for being stupid and getting involved in a battle without considering the consequences; she was furious at the fact that she and the other prisoners were being taken to a Sound base instead of a slave market somewhere; and she was definitely furious at the shinobi who were 'escorting' them.

Of course, they were probably pretty furious with her, too. In the three days since she'd been captured, Sakura had gained a reputation for being a resistant troublemaker. She'd tried to escape a total of four times, and been recaptured and dragged back each time. Her back still stung from the canings she'd been given in punishment, though the wounds had stopped bleeding.

All her failed escape attempts had done was driven home the message that she had to play ball – at least for now. She couldn't escape if she was beaten half to death, could she?

She darted a compassionate glance at the people in front of her. After three days of captivity, sprinkled with constant threats and her own public punishments for her attempted escapes, the travelers seemed well and truly cowed. It was almost ironic – her whippings had more of an impact on them than they'd had on her.

But then, she was a kunoichi – she was used to pain. It wasn't pleasant to bear, but it was something she could deal with.

The line halted at what appeared to be a solid cliff face...until one of the shinobi rapped sharply on it – Sakura memorised the pattern: two soft, three loud – and a hidden door opened in the rock.

Sakura didn't know what was happening, but the slave line moved forward in stops and starts. Her first thought was that they were being processed somehow, and trepidation welled in her at the thought of what that process might involve.

When it was her turn to be shoved through the doorway, Sakura set her jaw and squared her shoulders, determined to face whatever awaited her...

To find it was a thin, weedy man wearing the Sound headband and holding a collar and what looked like brown clothing. Sakura thought she could make out others behind him, but the change of lighting from the bright forest to the dim stone corridor had bright spots flaring in her vision as her eyes adjusted.

Someone grabbed hold of her hair, and she resisted the urge to lash out, settling for flexing her bound hands in frustration. The man in front of her raised the leather collar...then frowned.

"I can sense strong chakra from him," he murmured, making a vague motion behind him that Sakura didn't catch in the low light.

The collar he brought forth made Sakura's blood freeze solid in her veins, thickening to jelly. It was leather, yes, but there was a strip of metal adorning the middle, with a long needle protruding from it. And it wasn't a simple strap that secured it, but what looked like some sort of lock.

And Sakura knew she didn't want that collar anywhere near her. She had no idea what it was going to do, but that needle didn't look like it would help her in any way, shape or form.

So she bucked against the hold on her like a wild horse, trying futilely to twist away from the collar. Someone kicked her in the back of her knee, forcing it to bend and sending her lurching to the floor. Hands gripped her shoulders, keeping her down as her hair was wrenched forward so sharply she felt tears prick her eyes, baring the back of her neck.

She still struggled, but there wasn't much she could do, and she couldn't help crying out when she felt the needle slide into the back of her neck.

But the pain of needle was nothing compared to the sensation that jolted through her body as the collar was snapped closed, like a powerful electric shock. She didn't know what that needle was doing, but it somehow interfered with her chakra. Sakura struggled to maintain the transformation as the world blurred before her, her limbs folding like green twigs. Every ounce of energy in her body went towards maintaining the illusion of a dark-haired, tanned male...

And it seemed to work. Certainly there were no shouts of shock or anger that would signal the illusion being undone. As she was yanked to her feet again, Sakura became aware that the collar had done something to her chakra. She didn't know what, but it felt...restricted. As though the transformation was all she could maintain.

_'It's probably meant to restrict chakra somehow,'_ she told herself as she was handed a simple brown shift and shoved in the direction of the other slaves with orders to get dressed quickly. _'The needle must deliver some sort of toxin.'_

She knew it was probably meant to keep chakra at a civilian's level, but she was lucky in that respect – she was already drained, so the chakra the man had sensed wasn't her true chakra level. In other words, the restriction they'd placed on her probably wouldn't restrict all her chakra when she managed to recover it. It would make fighting in a battle difficult, but she'd certainly have more chakra than they would expect her to have.

At least, assuming the collar was set to a specific level.

Freed from her bonds and left with the other slaves, Sakura set about trying to change into the shift and surreptitiously use the remains of her old clothes to bind her chest flat. Transformation was all well and good, but she needed to make sure there was no physical hint of cleavage.

In the end, Sakura's chest wasn't completely flat, but certainly flat enough to get by beneath the shapeless slave shift. She could pass for a male physically, but she'd need to modify her behaviour to a certain extent as well. On the journey, she'd been dredging up recollections of her teammates in en effort to emulate masculine behaviour. Of course, given that her teammates were Kakashi, Naruto and Sai, the other prisoners probably thought she was crazy, but it was better than thinking that she was a female in disguise.

Placing her back against the stone wall as the other captives milled around in confusion, Sakura took stock of her surroundings. This seemed to be another of Sound's underground hideouts, though she couldn't guess at how big it was or if it was one of the main ones. For all she knew, this could just be a pit stop before they reached their true destination.

"Haru?"

Sakura had to remind herself to turn to the boy who had addressed her. She'd introduced herself as Haru, on the grounds that it sounded like a male name, and since she was already accustomed to answering to 'Haruno' when she was summoned, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to respond to it.

"Yeah, kid?" she asked.

"What do you think is gonna happen to us?"

"Don't know," Sakura admitted, trying to sound unaffected even as her heart broke for him. "Maybe they're trying to figure out-"

"_Shut up!_"

Sakura jerked automatically as one of their captors bellowed at them, his voice reverberating across the stone walls.

"Someone didn't get their coffee today..." she muttered under her breath. The sarcasm and bravado was helping her cope with her situation; as long as she was defying them in some way, she could pretend her immediate future wasn't about to be decided by corrupt sadists.

"You have brought in a good crop..." The soft voice from the shadows sent a tremble rippling through Sakura's frame.

Orochimaru.

Apparently they had been brought to one of Sound's main bases, after all.

Their captors bowed, and the snake summoner stepped into the light...with Uchiha Sasuke at his side.

Sakura tensed, her heart suddenly slamming against her ribs like the kicks of a wild horse.

"Well, are there any that catch your eye?" Orochimaru asked Sasuke, as though they were discussing a group of cattle.

"I don't need a slave!" Sasuke snapped.

And he didn't. The slaves at Sound always made him uneasy, their bowed heads and empty eyes always stirring something within him. Something that he told himself was contempt, but that was dangerously close to pity.

Orochimaru ignored his outburst, however, and a flare of rage burst in Sasuke's gut.

"Take your pick," the sannin shrugged. "Since you seem so averse to the slaves already working here..."

Sasuke skimmed his eyes over the ragtag group – apparently a family of travelers that had been waylaid on the road.

And now, they were looking at a lifetime of servitude.

Sasuke shook off the cloud of sympathy that threatened, forcing himself to feel nothing but disgust at the obvious fear in their eyes, the way they cringed back against the wall like mice cowering from a cat. Their spirits were already bending.

Then his eyes landed on the boy standing in the back. He, too, was leaning against the wall, but it was a posture closer to that of a casual slouch than a cringe. He, too, was averting his eyes, but it wasn't in fear – on the contrary, it was more an act of disinterest, as though even Orochimaru was beneath his notice.

And the collar; the leather secured with a metal lock...Sasuke had seen those kind of collars before. They were only used to restrain those who could manipulate chakra – those who'd had training as ninja.

Sasuke's curiosity was piqued. The boy couldn't have been much older than him...a genin who'd somehow become separated from his teammates, perhaps?

As though sensing his gaze, the boy's gaze flickered to hold his own, and Sasuke found himself staring into bright green eyes. Eyes that were fierce and spirited, and were certainly not the eyes of a broken man.

There was something strangely familiar about those eyes. Something that tugged at the back of his mind, teasing him with whispers of recognition and echoes of memory.

"Him," Sasuke said bluntly, pointing to the green-eyed boy.

Sakura bit her tongue to keep herself from swearing. As soon as the purpose of Sasuke's visit had been made clear, Sakura had tried to make herself as unobtrusive as possible, praying for good luck, that he wouldn't pick her. She didn't need a large bucket of emotional upset on top of her current problems. She'd even averted her eyes, remembering that eye contact was a sure-fire way of gaining someone's attention.

And he'd picked her anyway.

_'Great. Just great.'_ Even her thoughts were sarcastic.

"Sure you wouldn't like one of the women?" Orochimaru murmured. "The males might be physically stronger, but the females can take care of...certain needs. Though I suppose you can use males for the same purpose, if your desires are such."

Sasuke paid him no mind.

Sakura, for her part, was on the verge of screaming. How was she supposed to escape when she was going to be around Sasuke all the time? She refused to admit that some part of her was glad; for god's sake, if he'd been prepared to kill Naruto, he certainly wouldn't hesitate when it came to her.

A swift wrench on her shoulder pulled Sakura from her horrified thoughts.

"Go to Lord Sasuke," her thuggish captor barked.

Sakura rolled her eyes (unobtrusively – it wouldn't do to go asking for trouble) and obeyed.

Sasuke turned and strode away down the corridor without looking back. Assuming she was supposed to follow, Sakura hurried after him, glancing back at the small group of new slaves being inspected by Orochimaru before she had to turn a corner and they were blocked from her sight.

She shadowed Sasuke through the corridors, trying to memorise their layout for when she made her escape. When they reached a heavy door at the end of the corridor, Sakura assumed they'd reached their destination, and she was proven correct when Sasuke opened the door and entered without preamble.

Sakura strolled in behind him, a little taken aback at the size of the room. Her apartment wasn't this big!

Sasuke jerked his head in the direction of a bare corner. "You sleep there. If you want any sort of bedding, get it yourself."

Apparently Sasuke was a bastard to everyone, including his slave. "Someone's pissy..." Sakura breathed, too low to be heard.

But she had reckoned without the stone walls that amplified sound or Sasuke's keen ears. "What was that?"

"Nothing," Sakura denied automatically.

She doubted that Sasuke would pursue the line of inquiry – he probably considered it beneath him – and was surprised when he turned to her, black eyes sharp and seeking. She felt the urge to step back but stood her ground determinedly.

"What's your name?" he asked suddenly.

"Haru," Sakura said.

"Last name or first name?" Sasuke interrogated.

"I don't think I want you to know," Sakura snapped, feeling off-balance and a little nervous. What was Sasuke playing at?

Sasuke stared at the boy, half intrigued and half exasperated. Haru was either completely ignorant of his situation, or he possessed a lot more guts than Sasuke had first estimated.

Even if the defiance made him want to hit the kid, it was still a nice change from the usual brand of slaves toiling in Sound.

But Haru wasn't even paying attention to him anymore; his eyes were darting around the room in what someone less perceptive might have taken for fear. But Sasuke could see the calculation in his face – the slightly furrowed brow a sign of concentration rather than unease – and knew he was scanning the windowless room for obvious weak points or escape avenues beside the door they had just come through.

"You're already planning an escape," Sasuke noted, just to see how Haru would react at the idea that his plans were discovered.

"Wouldn't you, in my place?" the slave snapped.

_'Play it cool, Sakura,'_ she urged herself. _'Play it cool, play it cool – you can do this, you can do this...'_

Sasuke smirked. "I'll never be in your place."

Sakura reflected there was something oddly comforting about the fact that Sasuke's arrogance hadn't changed. "Whatever you say..."

She hoped her remark would end this weird conversation. Why was Sasuke bothering to talk to her? For all he knew, she was a young male slave with a smart mouth who he didn't want to have serving him in the first place.

What she did know was that she didn't like the look on his face. As though he were staring at a jigsaw puzzle that hadn't been finished, and he was trying to work out what the complete picture was. As though she intrigued him, and he wanted to figure her out.

And frankly, her escape was going to a lot more complicated if Sasuke was going to be watching her like a hawk.

When she wanted his attention, she never got it and now, when she didn't want his attention, he was giving it to her in spades. It was kind of funny, in a way...and also kind of painful, but Sakura wasn't about to dwell on that.

"You stink, go clean up," Sasuke ordered, turning his back on her.

Sakura might have been offended, except she knew he was telling the truth. Between three days of traveling in the wilderness, one escape attempt that had led her into a swamp and the dried blood that was making her back itch even now, Sakura knew she must smell something awful.

And she wasn't going to turn down the offer of a shower. At least, that's what she thought he was ordering her to do.

So Sakura moved towards the door at the other end of the room, the door that she was fairly certain led to a bathroom, as Sasuke was already rooting through a closet like she wasn't there.

-xxx-

Five minutes later, Sakura decided she loved whoever had invented indoor plumbing. Loved them completely, utterly and unconditionally. Loved them, loved them, loved them.

A hot shower had never felt so good.

But it did sting the welts on her back, making the water at her feet tinge pink for a few moments as the blood spiraled into the drain, some of it old and brown, some of it new and bright from where the wounds had reopened. Sakura grimaced at the sight, gingerly feeling her injuries and turning the possibility of infection over in her mind. On one hand, she was young and fit, and she ate well, got plenty of sleep, and in general kept her immune system in good health. On the other hand, she was tired, under a lot of emotional stress (with only more to come), and the injury had been given many long hours of exposure to dirt, dust and grime.

Infection was a definite possibility. Maybe not serious, but certainly debilitating and annoying – plus, she wouldn't put it past Orochimaru to just kill any sick slave on the spot in lieu of medical attention.

Sakura stood under the water and considered what she could do. She could let Sasuke know about the injuries if they became infected, but she had no idea how he'd react. Besides, even if he did decide to get her treated, that would involve being poked and prodded by Kabuto, which Sakura was rather keen to avoid to all costs. Both him and Orochimaru, come to that – she had faith in her skills at transformation, but she wasn't about to assume her disguise was foolproof against the likes of them.

Of course...she could always try to heal it herself. The collar limited her chakra, but it didn't block it precisely. Sure, she'd probably get her ass handed to her if she tried to start a fight, but she probably had enough to knit the marks on her back together without much trouble.

Then again, she didn't know what the collar would do if she tried to perform another jutsu while maintaining the transformation.

With that thought in mind, Sakura twisted her head until she could glimpse the mirror out of the corner of her eye. She'd avoided it when she entered (not out of vanity, more because it was just plain _weird_ to see a man looking back at her), but now she thought she had some use for it. With a careful alignment of eyes and mirror (and pulling a few wet strands of hair out of the way, of course) Sakura got her first good look at the back of her collar.

It was a small band of metal not unlike the lock that held it closed. Except this was rounded and slightly raised, and she wondered if there was some kind of toxin in it. It would explain the needle, and also the way the area had gone slightly numb.

And, assuming there was only a limited amount of the toxin contained in the collar, that meant that this restraint had a use-by date. There would come a time when it would no longer function.

Of course, with the way her luck was going, that use-by date was probably ten years from now.

Sakura poked and prodded the collar, wincing when she yanked a little too hard and the thin needle shifted in her neck. Apparently there was only so much the toxin numbed; if someone ever grabbed it and used it to shake her, it would hurt like hell.

Silently vowing not to allow anyone to touch her collar, Sakura finally decided to take a chance. It couldn't hurt just to try a little bit of healing...just see what she could get away with...

Besides, it wasn't like she needed to heal them entirely – just enough to close them and deal with any infection that had already set in.

With a deep breath, Sakura pressed a hand against her side, gathered her chakra...and took a gamble.

It left her light-headed, slightly dizzy and a little nauseous (though that could have been a result of the dizziness), but the welts healed to the point where they had firmly scabbed over, though they were still red and angry.

Sakura toweled herself dry, dressed in the brown shift that she was beginning to think was the mark of a slave in Sound, and started to leave the bathroom...

And managed to stop herself just before she broke her nose against Sasuke's chest.

"Whoa!" she couldn't help exclaiming, darting backwards and then kicking herself as she realised her movements had betrayed reflexes and graces civilians simply didn't have. Sure, the collar was a mark that they'd sensed strong chakra, but for all they knew, she could have been some civilian kid who was simply more in touch with his chakra than most.

But she'd just revealed that she'd had formal training. Sasuke probably couldn't guess as to the extent, but the fact that he knew she'd had it was cause for concern.

"What were you doing in there?" Sasuke asked in a low, menacing voice. He'd felt a sharp spike of chakra from the room, muted – obviously by the collar – but still enough for him to sense. It hadn't been enough to be a threat, so he'd waited until Haru had emerged to confront him about it.

"Taking a shower," Haru said in a surprisingly even tone. "I assume that's what you meant when you told me to clean myself up."

"I felt a spike of chakra," Sasuke said bluntly, his eyes beginning to bleed into the red and black of bloodline ability. "What were you doing?"

Sakura hoped she wasn't about to break out in a cold sweat. There was a dangerous edge and intensity to his voice, like a blade of sharpened steel held against her neck.

But Sakura was a kunoichi – more specifically, a medic-nin, who often had to work on patients who were dying even as she worked on them – so she was used to thinking fast under pressure.

_'If I lie and say nothing, he'll see right through it,'_ she realised. _'So, I'll go with...'_

"If you must know, I was trying to see if I could get the collar off," she said, shrugging carelessly to cover her unease. "Now are you going to beat me or something in punishment or can I go root around for a blanket?"

Sasuke simply stared at her for long moments – so long, tension was beginning to coil in Sakura's muscles as she prepared for...something. Some kind of reaction from him; possibly violent.

But it never came. Sasuke simply strode past her into the bathroom, the soft click of the door closing signaling an end to...whatever that had been.

-xxx-

Sakura arranged the blankets she'd found in a small nest in the corner, uncomfortably aware of Sasuke's eyes on her. He hadn't said a thing, and the silence was making her edgy.

"So...what am I supposed to do?" she asked eventually. She was fairly sure slaves shouldn't be asking their masters anything, but she couldn't take this silent observation anymore.

Sasuke's expression didn't so much as flicker.

"I mean, what work are you going to have me do?" Sakura elaborated.

Sasuke shrugged – a small, economic movement of his shoulders, as though loathe to waste energy. "Keep the room clean, keep my weapons in good shape and do whatever I tell you to."

Sakura turned away to bundle up one of the blankets in something resembling a pillow, rolling her eyes the minute her back was to him.

As though he had been given some invisible, unheard cue, Sasuke strode to the door and left the room, pausing only to instruct her not to leave the room as he departed.

Sakura had no idea what to make of that (maybe he was going training), but she wasn't about to waste this golden opportunity.

She proceeded to slowly and carefully rummage through Sasuke's room, meticulously cataloguing what she had access to, just in case. When deep in enemy territory, you never knew what you might need.

It took less time that she had thought it would; Sasuke's room was large, yes, but rather spartan in terms of furniture and equipment. He had a bed, a closet, and a rack where he kept his weapons...and that was it. His bathroom supplies consisted of soap, shampoo, toothbrush and toothpaste.

The more Sakura looked at it, the more it looked like a guest room. The sort of things you'd take on a camping trip; only the bare necessities, because you weren't going to be there for very long. But then again, Orochimaru moved from base to base every few weeks, so it was probably safe to assume Sasuke moved with him.

Better to assume that than to tell herself that Sasuke had only ever intended his stay in Sound to be temporary.

Assured that she had made a mental list of everything she might possibly need, and feeling that it was probably late at night (hard to tell in the underground, but Sakura's circadian rhythms were demanding sleep) she nestled in her blankets. Sasuke wasn't back yet, but if he wanted something, he would just have to wake her up!

After performing a quick jutsu trick Tsunade had taught her – a way of ensuring that the transformation was maintained while she slept (requiring some very fine-tuned chakra control) – Sakura curled in on herself and shut her eyes, telling herself to rest up before she attempted to escape.

-xxx-

_"It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped."_

_-Anthony Robbins_

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye, who is an absolute angel of a beta - she even wrote the summary for me!_


	2. The Unbreakable

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto

**Chapter 2**

**The Unbreakable**

"_Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, these ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."_

_-Robert F. Kennedy _

-xxx-

"Get up!" came an irritated, snappish voice from above her.

Sakura's eyes flew open and she struggled to sit up in the thorny tangle her nest of blankets had become.

"What is it?" she asked, scrubbing at her eyes and yawning when she realised there was no immediate threat. "Earthquake and this place is about to cave in? Fire?"

"No," Sasuke said, in the tone of one talking to mentally handicapped child.

"One can hope," Sakura muttered, climbing to her feet.

Sasuke stared at Haru, knowing that he should curb the boy's attitude, yet not really wanting to. In a place where everyone automatically acquiesced to his wishes and practically licked his shoes, it was rather refreshing to have some talk back to him. It reminded him of...

It reminded him of a time he had sworn never to revisit.

"Come with me!" he ordered, striding out the door. "You are to keep two paces behind me at all times."

Sakura bristled even as she darted after him, anger swirling in her stomach. If a man had told her to do that back in Konoha, she would have screamed sexist at him and knocked him on his ass. Except here, she was pretending to be a male, so she went with what Naruto's reaction probably would have been.

"Yes, sir, bastard-sir," she growled.

Sasuke halted so abruptly it was only ninja reflexes that saved Sakura from ploughing into him.

"What did you call me?" He didn't turn around, but the hairs on the back of Sakura's neck prickled all the same.

"Uh...bastard?"

"Don't ever call me that again." His voice was low, but the menace in it was perfectly clear.

"Yes, sir, asshole," Sakura said before she could censor it. It was times like these that made her wonder if she had some kind of subconscious death wish.

"Do not call me that, either!" Sasuke practically snarled.

He turned only when he was sure his expression was controlled and indifferent. Hearing Haru toss out Naruto's favourite nicknames for him had made his stomach churn uncomfortably.

"Okay...so what should I call you?" Haru asked, apparently not perturbed in the slightest that he had irritated someone who possessed complete control of his life.

The more Sasuke saw of his composure, the more certain the Uchiha became that it wasn't a product of ignorance, but confidence. The sort of bone-deep confidence that very few people possessed, and then only with good reason.

Considering Haru was a slave in an underground fortress, Sasuke was rather curious what he was so confident about.

Sakura huffed a little as Sasuke proceeded to ignore her question. Well, what did she expect? She was technically his slave, and a rather free one at that – she doubted she'd be getting away with this kind of behaviour if anyone else was her master, but Sasuke just didn't seem to care.

She kept her silence after that, following him through the maze of hallways until they emerged in some sort of cafeteria. For Sound, it looked almost eerily normal...until she noticed that those eating were dressed in brown shifts and wearing leather collars, and they were guarded by men built like rhinoceroses who wielded thin, wicked-looking whips.

Sakura noted that there were no women among the guards. But then again, she had the impression there weren't many women in Sound; she hadn't seen one female in ninja garb since she'd come here.

Unsure of exactly what they were doing there, she sent a questioning glance in Sasuke's direction.

He responded with a nod at the room in general and a curt, "Eat."

Sakura shuffled into the throng, feeling uncertain but assuming this area was where the slaves took their meals. She took an apple, a banana and an orange from the selection, grateful that Orochimaru seemed to understand that well-fed slaves were better than starved, malnourished ones – at the very least, they could do more work.

She sat at one of the rough wooden benches, quietly munching her fruit and trying to keep her head down. It worked...up until one of the guards began hassling a slave for spilling some of the porridge he had been offered. With a start, Sakura realised it was the boy she'd traveled with, the one who'd addressed her when they'd first been collared and ushered into the tunnels.

It might have been the fact that she knew this boy, however dimly. It might have been the fact that her nature was such that she despised seeing anyone bullied. Whatever the reason, Sakura found herself standing and darting with ninja-quickness across the room before her mind could even raise an objection.

As the whip whistled towards the boy, Sakura extended her arm, catching the blow. The whip left a prominent weal across her wrist, but Sakura didn't care – it was nothing compared to having a poisoned blade rammed through her, and she was more worried about the kid. He was gazing down at the remnants of his breakfast, and looked as though he were trying not to cry.

"Come on, kid, you're probably better off not eating that slop," Sakura told him, trying to bolster his spirits. "How about some fruit? I've got a nice, juicy apple..."

For his part, Sasuke was a little surprised. He'd seen the boy stumble, and had deliberately looked away, setting his jaw against the prickling of his conscience to aid him, he'd heard the whip come down...but there had been no answering cry of pain. He'd turned to find Haru with his arm slung companionably over the boy's shoulders, guiding him back to a bench under the baleful glare of the guard. Sasuke's keen eyes picked up the bright red welt on Haru's wrist and forearm, the obvious mark of a whip.

But Haru hadn't so much as whimpered. And Sasuke knew you had to have a high pain threshold to remain silent when a whip caught you.

Just further evidence that this slave was not what he appeared.

"Mistake..." came a quiet whisper from Sasuke's left.

Sasuke's eyes cut in that direction. A man was leaning against the wall a short distance from him, his eyes on Haru. Sasuke recognised the man; Arashi was a professional slave-taker, Sound's best, in fact. He was usually in charge of every slave-taking trip, but one of Kabuto's more sickening experiments had gotten out of hand, and Orochimaru had sent multiple groups of ninja out, many of whom were inexperienced in taking slaves.

As demonstrated by the family they took – an experienced slaver would never have attacked a group with children. Children could do little, and cost much in terms of food and shelter to raise.

But Sasuke was curious as to why taking Haru had been a mistake. The boy was physically fit, and while he had clearly received a ninja's education, the collar kept him rather subdued.

"How?" he asked.

The man blinked, and it was then Sasuke realised he had no idea he'd spoken aloud. "Your pardon, Lord Sasuke?"

"Why was taking the boy a mistake?"

Arashi paled. "I-I...it is not my place to question my Lord Sasuke's choice..."

Sasuke quelled the urge to roll his eyes. Honestly, with all this simpering and pandering going on about him, was it any wonder he found Haru's less-than-subtle defiance refreshing?

"You said 'mistake'," he went on, a threat clear in his voice.

Seeming to understand that further refusal to elaborate would anger Sasuke, the slaver went on. "You're right, I do not think it was wise to take the boy. When my master first taught me this business, one of the things he most emphasised was how to spot an 'unbreakable'."

_'Unbreakable...'_ the word whispered in Sasuke's mind. "Explain," he snapped.

"An unbreakable can be recognised by a thousand things," the man continued. "The way they move, the way they speak, they way they interact with those who have power over them...they can be of any age, gender or origin, but there is one quality they have in common – the stubborn, unbending will that earns them the name 'unbreakables'. They do not submit in the way other slaves will; their spirits do not – _cannot_ – break. They can be beaten, whipped, raped, starved, chained...it doesn't not matter what you do to them, they will die before they are broken."

Sasuke stared at Haru as the dark-haired boy bit into a piece of his orange with gusto, still chatting amiably to the child next to him.

"You may gain their obedience, but it is nothing but a shallow reflection," Arashi went on. "They may do as you say, but their minds will always be consumed by thoughts of escape or revenge or both. I know you are strong, Lord Sasuke, but watch your slave closely or he may slit your throat as you sleep."

-xxx-

Sakura rasped the whetstone against the kunai blade once more, before testing its edge against her thumb. It drew blood with barely more than a whisper of pressure, and she grinned, healing the gash with a flicker of chakra. She didn't have to worry about anyone seeing; Sasuke had gone off to train with Orochimaru, instructing her to sharpen and clean his weapons in his absence.

It was an easy enough job – Sakura was suspecting that, as slaves went, her position was a rather cushy one.

She set the kunai aside – the last of the weapons she'd been ordered to work on – and surveyed her finished work with more than a touch of satisfaction.

In fact, now that she'd finished, maybe she could have a bit more of a look around the base. She couldn't escape yet; there were too many people in the corridors during the daylight hours – at least, she assumed these were the daylight hours – someone was certain to see her and stop her if she tried to slip out of the base. Her escape would either have to take place at night...or she would have to create some sort of diversion during the day.

Frankly, Sakura preferred the idea of sneaking out at night, because a diversion added all new layers of complications.

So, while she wouldn't try escaping, there was no reason she couldn't wander the base a bit, map it out in her mind...

Sakura opened the door and walked straight into Sasuke.

"What is it with you and hanging around in doorways?" she grumped, scooting backwards to allow him to enter the room.

"You're stupid," was all Sasuke said.

"Oh, yeah? Since when were you a walking IQ test?"

"I told you to stay in the room. You were in the process of leaving the room. You could not understand a simple command."

"I didn't misunderstand it, I chose to disobey it," Sakura clarified. "Big difference."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed suddenly, dangerously, and she fought the urge to take several steps backwards. "Including the difference between being considered stupid and being beaten for disobedience?"

Sasuke could admit that he found the idea of inflicting pain on Haru rather distasteful – he'd never been one for deliberate torture – but he wanted to see if the threat would cow him.

Sakura silently ran through every swear word she could think of in her mind, but it did little to help. The whole point of swear words was to say them aloud; thinking them didn't give them quite the same punch.

But since she'd played this hand, she might as well stick it out to the bitter end, see how far Sasuke was willing to let her go...

"If you think the threat of a little pain is going to stop me, you've severely underestimated me," she said quietly.

Sasuke stared down at Haru and found himself thinking he was rather short for a male. But the height difference didn't seem to intimidate him, nor the menacing aura that Sasuke had deliberately projected, nor the threat of violence. The boy simply stared straight into his face, his jaw set, green eyes blazing with determination...

The sight rang a dull bell in the back of Sasuke's mind. He stared into Haru's unsettling green eyes, unable to shake the feeling he had seen them before, that he had seen this expression before...

Then the boy blinked and it was lost, a phantom of memory flitting away through Sasuke's mind.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice soft but as deadly as a viper's fang.

A hint of fear entered Haru's eyes, and Sasuke found his already prominent curiosity about the slave deepening. Threats didn't scare him, but he practically panicked whenever Sasuke inquired about his identity?

"You have had ninja training," the Uchiha continued ruthlessly, watching Haru's eyes for any hint that he was hitting close to the truth. "You are a shinobi from another village, most likely from Konoha, though I suppose that Grass and Sand are also a possibility."

Sakura hoped her nervous, gulping swallow wasn't as audible as it felt. "You're bluffing; you have no idea if I'm a ninja or not, let alone where I'm from."

Sasuke smirked and stepped past her into the room. Sakura scowled at his back as he inspected the weapons she'd been ordered to maintain. It was hard to tell whether he was pleased or not, but he wasn't criticizing her work, and she supposed that was the best she could hope for.

"Come," he ordered abruptly, turning and striding into the corridor.

The one-word commands were really starting to irritate Sakura – she wasn't a dog for god's sake!

But she followed obediently, practically jogging to keep up with his rapid pace. "Where are we going?"

Sasuke didn't answer. Sakura huffed grumpily to herself and didn't ask again.

So when they walked into a large room in which Orochimaru was feasting at a long table laid with gourmet dishes, Sakura couldn't have been more surprised. She knew, logically, that since Sasuke was being trained by Orochimaru he would spend a lot of time with the sannin, but she hadn't really been prepared for it.

Sakura silently cursed the collar around her neck; with her chakra restricted, it was hard to sense the chakra of others, and so she kept getting nasty surprises like this all the time.

"Ah, Sasuke," Orochimaru smiled, and Sakura suppressed a shiver. He'd always given her the creeps.

She couldn't help but think that Sasuke must have been really unhappy in Konoha if Orochimaru seemed like a better prospect, but it sent a pang of pain through her chest, so she made an effort not to dwell on it.

Sasuke took a seat at the table and began to eat without so much as looking at Orochimaru. Uncertain as to what she was supposed to do, Sakura stood behind Sasuke's chair, keeping her eyes fixed on the ground. She wasn't stupid; she knew showing Orochimaru any of the defiance she'd been showing Sasuke would probably get her killed in a second.

"Any problems with your slave?" the sannin asked.

Sasuke shot him a withering glance and then bent his head to his plate again.

"What about you, boy?" Something in Sasuke coiled as Orochimaru addressed Haru. If the boy was stupid...

Sakura said nothing – just glanced at Orochimaru then lowered her head again.

"Nothing to say?" Orochimaru inquired, his voice poisonously sweet.

Sakura dropped her head a little farther, hoping the show of submission would mollify him.

He laughed. "Why, Sasuke, I do believe you've picked yourself a mute!"

Sasuke hid a smirk. It seemed Haru had stronger survival instincts than he'd first thought. At the very least, the boy seemed to recognise that Orochimaru wouldn't tolerate what Sasuke would tolerate.

He concentrated on finishing his meal, only barely listening as Orochimaru detailed the afternoon's training plan, wanting to be out of the sannin's presence as soon as possible. When he'd finished, he stood up from the table and exited the room, without bothering to excuse himself.

He'd learned early on that he didn't actually have to show Orochimaru much respect; after all, Orochimaru needed him more than he needed Orochimaru.

Haru shadowed him out of the room, every inch the perfect submissive slave...until the door closed behind them.

"Geez, creepy much?" the boy commented, throwing a baleful glare over his shoulder.

Sasuke smirked.

-xxx-

That night, Sasuke carefully inspected the weapons he'd had Haru clean before he replaced them on the racks. He'd given them a cursory inspection before he'd had to leave for his daily lunch with Orochimaru, but all that brief glance had done was assure him Haru hadn't completely destroyed them. Now that he had the time to sit down and examine them, he realised that they had cleaned and sharpened by the hands of an expert. This was no fumbling civilian going on third-hand rumour of how to take care of weapons; these had been handled by someone well-used to taking care of such weapons.

Combined with Haru's chakra-suppressing collar, his near-fearlessness in the face of threat or physical pain and the way he'd reacted when Sasuke had mentioned that he might be a ninja, his suspicion that Haru was a shinobi could now be considered fact.

"Where are you from?" he asked abruptly.

"Nice try," Haru volleyed back from where he was cleaning Sasuke's closet.

"Family?"

Haru shot a suspicious look over his shoulder, Sasuke only seeing a flash of irate green before the boy turned back to his task. He didn't like those eyes, those damnable green eyes that nagged at his mind like a physical itch.

Sakura, for her part, wondered at Sasuke's newfound chattiness. Maybe he was lonely...

Some part of her screamed that he should be; that it was nothing less than what he deserved. She cared for him, yes...but it was hard to quieten the childish voice of her wounded heart, screaming that he hurt her and he should pay!

But all the anger in the world didn't dull the pain of it.

Sakura shook her head, firmly pushing aside those kind of depressive thoughts and resumed clearing Sasuke's closet.

"Will anyone be looking for you?"

Sakura snorted. "Hell, yes. Not going to tell you who, though."

But even assuming he was lonely, why pick his slave to try to socialise with? But then again, from what Sakura had seen, she was probably the only person around who didn't toady to him. No matter how antisocial a person claimed to be, it was human nature to seek out companionship. And in Sound, Sakura – or Haru, as he knew her – was probably the closest he was going to get.

Sasuke was smirking as though her response amused him somehow. Sakura squashed the urge to hurl one of his own scrolls at him and instead sat back to survey her finished work. It wasn't sparkling clean, but it was neat.

"Okay, I've tidied your closet – can I go to sleep now?"

Sasuke shrugged. Sakura took that as permission to curl up in her pile of blankets and close her eyes.

But she didn't go to sleep. Instead...she waited. She waited as Sasuke read through a few scrolls. She waited while he went through the requisite bathroom routine. She waited as the light in the room went out, and Sasuke's breathing slowly assumed the deep, even rhythms of sleep.

And then Sakura rose from her makeshift bed, creeping towards the door with every particle of stealth she possessed.

_'Softly, softly, softly,'_ she chanted it in her mind like a mantra. _'Softly, softly, softly...'_

She wasn't about to underestimate Sasuke's senses, even when he was asleep – something told her Sound's environment would encourage hair-trigger reflexes even in slumber – but since she wouldn't be approaching the bed or anything so foolish, she thought she might have a chance to get away with it.

She slowly eased the door open, ever-vigilant for any sound from the bed that might signal Sasuke's awakening. But his breathing didn't so much as hitch.

She gave one last cursory glance into the room she'd just exited, some part of her urging her to remain...but she knew it was foolish. Each day that passed in Sound made it more likely that Sasuke would discover her disguise – he'd already figured out that she was a ninja and she'd only been here for two days! – and then what would he do?

She knew what she wanted him to do, but she knew just as well that he would probably do something very different. Sasuke had made it clear that she and Naruto were no longer considered his friends; he would probably kill her, or hand her over to Orochimaru for interrogation...

Sakura shivered at the prospect. She had to leave, or she'd be facing death. And not just physical death; she knew it would kill something inside her if Sasuke ever truly committed that final betrayal. And if Naruto ever found out...it would kill him, too.

Sasuke had done nothing to deserve her devotion and loyalty – had done everything he could to rid himself of them – but Naruto was a different story. He was the brother she'd never had, as Ino was the sister she'd never had (complete with sibling rivalry).

So she'd leave Sasuke, and go back to the people who who loved her as much as she loved them.

Sakura closed the door softly behind her, the solid darkness in the room meaning she was never alerted when Sasuke opened his eyes, and silently watched her leave.

-xxx-

At the sound of voices, Sakura darted into a side-passage, pressing herself against the wall in the hopes she might go unnoticed.

She'd found that Sound did have a day and night, or at least, something approaching them. During the 'day' all the torches along the walls were lit, filling every room and corridor with light. Not as bright as that above ground, of course, but bright enough so that you barely noticed you were below the surface.

Night seemed a different story. Now, every third torch was lit, filling the corridors with shadows and plunging the base into a sort of twilight.

Sakura wondered why they weren't using electricity, but supposed the power source and generator needed for such power might be used to detect the base's location. She didn't see how – couldn't they build it underground, perhaps? – but it was the only explanation she could think of.

The ninjas – guards, most likely – passed her by, and Sakura slunk back into the corridor, consulting her faultless memory to re-trace her steps to the entrance she'd been hustled in from.

She felt like her senses were stretched to breaking point as she crept down the many corridors, alert for the slightest breath of sound, the barest flicker of something at the periphery of her vision...

So when she heard soft footsteps from both ends of the corridor, both sets converging on her, Sakura had time to prepare for the inevitable confrontation. She hadn't brought a weapon from Sasuke's room because she knew it wouldn't have done her any good – in a confrontation with a guard, she would have to bluff her way out of trouble, not fight. With the collar on, she put no faith in her combative abilities (she might win against some of Sound's more mundane ninja, but she doubted she'd then have the energy she needed to get far enough away from the base so that any hunting parties couldn't recapture her), and she was fairly certain that a slave carrying a weapon would look a lot more suspicious than a slave just walking alone down a corridor at night.

The footsteps came closer, and Sakura struggled to act calm, to stroll down the corridor as though she belonged there, as though this was what she had been instructed to do. If she recalled correctly, there was a storeroom along here somewhere – she'd gotten her blankets from it, as it held mainly cloth and weapons – so maybe she could say she'd been sent to fetch some extra linens or something...

When the pair of guards she was walking towards came into sight, Sakura did her best to look surprised. But she made no effort to speak to them, instead dropping her eyes and moving to the side like a good slave should.

But apparently the guards weren't about to let her move past them uncontested.

"Slave, why are you wandering the corridors?" the taller of the two barked, his hand resting on the hilt of a thin blade.

"I was instructed to get a blanket from the storeroom...masters," Sakura replied, keeping her voice as meek as she could make it, only just remembering to tack the word 'masters' on to the end of her sentence. After all, that was what slaves did, right?

"Really?" The shorter man gave her a cold, assessing glance that Sakura didn't like. "Perhaps we should accompany you..."

Sakura's first thought was that they were going to sexually assault her. Then she remembered she was masquerading as a boy. Then she told herself not to discount that whole sexual assault motive just because they thought she was a boy; sure, it might have been less likely, statistically speaking, but it could still happen.

The taller man groaned. "Come on, Arashi – our shift's nearly over."

The man called Arashi said nothing, merely watched her with fixed, unblinking eyes. "Get moving, slave."

Sakura gritted her teeth as she moved down the corridor to the storeroom door barely ten feet in front of her. She went in, snatched the first blanket she could find, and trotted out, hoping that the shinobi watching her were imbeciles, that they would take this simple act as proof she had been truthful...

But Arashi simply nodded, then gestured back down the corridor. "Now let's see you take it back to your master, boy. You're Lord Sasuke's slave, aren't you?"

She'd been hoping for a Neanderthal, and instead she got a man who seemed a bit too clever for her peace of mind. Sakura wasn't too sure about her views on God, but she was certain something was conspiring against her.

As she retraced her steps down the hallways, she tried to think about what she could say when she opened the door to Sasuke's room and her 'escorts' found that he was still asleep and had probably never ordered her to do anything.

She was still thinking when they rounded the corner and started down the final corridor to Sasuke's room. When she saw the light shining from beneath the door, she seriously considered just knocking the guards' heads into the wall and running for all she was worth. If there was light in there it meant that Sasuke was awake, and if Sasuke was awake it meant he was aware she'd gone and was probably even now strapping on his weapons to go looking for her, and when she knocked on the door with an armful of blanket and a pair of shinobi flanking her...

Safe to say, Sakura wasn't looking forward to that confrontation, mainly because she had a feeling it would result in real and immediate pain for her shortly afterwards.

She was about to make her move, but then Arashi stepped in front of her and knocked sharply on the door. And while Sakura knew she might have had a chance at subduing these two if she caught them surprise, she knew there was absolutely no chance she could take down Sasuke, not with the collar on. So, she'd just have to play this to the hilt.

The door cracked open, one impassive black eye peering through the gap.

"What is it?" he asked Arashi. But Sakura could hear the unspoken 'you had better have a damn good reason for disturbing me' in the words.

As she watched, his eyes slid past the Sound shinobi and rested on her. Sakura stiffened as he registered the blanket, the expression that she just knew looked furtive in spite of her best efforts and braced herself for...whatever his reaction was going to be, all she knew was that it would be ugly.

"About time," Sasuke scoffed. "Get in here."

It took Sakura a few moments to realise that Sasuke really was addressing her. Not knowing why he seemed to be giving her a free pass but not going to turn it down, she moved past Arashi and slid into the room as Sasuke cracked the door a fraction wider to let her in.

"Now...what did you want?" Sasuke addressed Arashi, his voice becoming dangerous.

"We found your slave wandering the corridors and simply wanted to ensure he was doing so on your orders," Arashi said, his voice seeming calm but Sakura knew he was probably hoping Sasuke wouldn't kill him for disturbing him.

"Hn." Sasuke shut the door in their faces, rudely dismissing them and leaving two very relieved guards alive to walk away.

Sasuke turned back to Haru, who was clutching the blanket and eyeing him as though he were some sort of volatile chemical reaction, one that the slightest touch could set off.

When Sasuke had woken just in time to see the boy slipping out the door, his first thought had been to charge after him. He'd risen, lit the lamp, and had actually seized his sword before he abruptly decided to let Haru go. Sasuke had never liked the concept of slavery in the first place, and if Haru had the guts to attempt an escape from one of Sound's fortresses...then Sasuke felt the boy had earned his freedom.

He had just decided to go back to sleep and pretend ignorance of Haru's escape until the morning (they were going to move in a week or so anyway, so it hardly mattered if he informed his village of the location), when his keen hearing had caught the sound of footsteps outside his door.

Whoever it was had knocked, and Sasuke had barely cracked the door open so they wouldn't be able to see that Haru's nest of blankets was conspicuously vacant...only to be confronted with Haru himself, clutching a blanket and hemmed by two guards.

It had taken Sasuke only a moment to realise that Haru must have been caught, and had obviously claimed to be on some sort of errand; apparently, the kid could think fast when he needed to.

If Haru had groveled or tried to appeal to him, Sasuke might have done something very different. But as it was, the green-eyed boy had just stood there, looking both nervous and resigned, as though he wasn't sure of what was coming, but knew it was bad.

And, almost before he thought about it, Sasuke had found himself playing along. It had been...nice...to have someone who rolled their eyes at him without worrying about what he would do to them. Someone who snapped back at him instead of taking his orders with a nod and a false smile.

He stared at Haru for a moment, then kicked his boots off and laid his sword beside his bed before dousing the lamp and climbing in.

He heard a soft rustling sound in the darkness that told him Haru was settling into his makeshift bed.

No one spoke.

-xxx-

Sakura reflected that she and Sasuke seemed to have reached some sort of silent agreement. Neither of them talked of Haru's escape, and neither of them talked of the way Sasuke had covered for her.

But Sakura thought about it. She thought about it often.

What had possessed Sasuke to try to cover for her? He didn't owe her anything...so then why had he done that? If it had been anyone else, she would have said it was out of compassion or the goodness of their hearts or something like that...but she hadn't seen a lot of evidence for the goodness of Sasuke's heart lately. He was so focused on killing his brother, it seemed he'd blocked out everything but that single obsession.

Sure, he'd probably manage to kill Itachi one day, but after that...he'd be alone. And there would be no one to blame but himself.

And Sakura hated that the idea bothered her. He was the one who had abandoned them, he was the one who had been going to kill Naruto, he was the one who had thrown them aside...so why did she find it so impossible to do the same to him?

With a sigh and a weary shake of her head, Sakura reaffirmed her vow to escape from Sound as soon as possible; all this time with Sasuke was making her contemplate things she really had no desire to contemplate. Heartbreak was a wound that never truly healed, but it would probably get a little better if she stopped poking at it and reopening it.

Sakura sat down in the slave's eating area, this time sticking close to the wall and Sasuke; she wasn't about to get involved in an altercation again, not with the same guard that had escorted her back to Sasuke's room there. That Arashi man was leaning against the wall and watching her with his unblinking, snake-like stare, and she had a feeling he was just looking for an excuse.

"I know you," a woman next to her said slowly.

Sakura turned around...and did her best not to yelp in alarm. She knew this woman, too; this was one of the nurses in the village she'd aided. Rumi, she thought it was. She remembered a brief conversation in which the woman had announced an intention to visit her family in another village as soon as the disease was under control; she must have been grabbed on the road, then.

But...Rumi had only known her for a few weeks, she couldn't recognise her from that, could she? Sasuke had known her for years and he didn't seem to have the slightest suspicion she wasn't anything but what she appeared to be: a dark-haired, lightly tanned boy.

But then...Sasuke had known her when she was twelve and thirteen. His only contact with her in the last year or so had been that...that confrontation, in which he hadn't shown a whole lot of interest in her. So maybe Rumi had a better idea of what she looked like now, and actually could see through her disguise...

"Aren't you the man that helped that boy?" the former nurse went on, sounding admiring.

Sakura tried not to sigh audibly in relief, either. So Rumi only recognised her from yesterday, not the village. She didn't know her as the kunoichi who'd healed the sick, she knew her as the slave who'd had the guts to intervene between a guard and another slave.

Which, now that she thought about it, had been kind of stupid. Sure, the guard hadn't actually done anything about it except glare (probably couldn't be bothered), but if he'd decided to press the issue, Sakura knew she'd have been in trouble.

"Have you been here for long?" Rumi asked, sounding sympathetic.

"Not too long," Sakura said honestly. "I was on my way home when I got grabbed."

She became aware that, though Sasuke still held his practiced expression of disinterest, he was listening intently to their conversation.

"Me, too," Rumi smiled. "I...I was a nurse, you see. I couldn't leave the village I worked in for months because there was an outbreak. Eventually, we appealed to Konoha for help and they sent a woman called Haruno Sakura to help us."

Sakura could sense Sasuke stiffen, and she silently cursed Rumi's conversational streak.

"It was amazing, really. I always thought ninjas could do nothing but fight, I never knew they could heal, too! Although," Rumi reflected, "I doubt there are any healers here."

Sakura nodded. Kabuto may know medical jutsu, but he wasn't a healer by any stretch of the imagination.

"She left a little before...although I hope she didn't get caught as well. She did seem rather exhausted..."

_'If only you knew, Rumi,'_ Sakura thought. _'If only you knew.'_

"Haru!" Sasuke barked. "Come!"

Sakura shot to her feet with an apologetic glance at Rumi and hurried after Sasuke as he left the cafeteria-like area. Again with the one word commands – _she wasn't a dog!_ And what was his problem, anyway?

Sasuke told himself he wasn't _hurrying_ along the corridors, per se, he was just...moving quickly.

And it had absolutely nothing to do with what he'd just overheard. Absolutely nothing.

He yanked open a heavy metal door and descended a set of winding stairs, hearing Haru scrambling after him.

"What's going on?" the boy hissed. "Where the hell are we going?"

"The dungeons," he snapped. "Now shut up!"

"Geez, someone needs a chill pill..."

Sasuke ignored him as the stairs opened out into a dark, cold corridor lined with cages. He strode past them, dark eyes searching through them like child sifting through dirt to find a lost marble.

He didn't even know why he was doing this, not really. But since the woman had mentioned that Sakura might have been captured...he knew he needed to see if she had spoken the truth. There had been no flash of pink hair in the cafeteria, so he had descended to the dungeons.

The further he walked, the more his stomach twisted. He hadn't seen Sakura in weeks, hadn't had any true interaction with her in years...and yet, the thought of her imprisoned in Sound...easy prey for the men who lived here, fodder for Kabuto's experiments...was sickening.

He reached the end of the corridor and threw open the heavy door to the interrogation room. The prisoners kept in these cells were those that were to be 'persuaded' to relinquish information. Sakura was a kunoichi of Konoha, it wasn't impossible to assume Orochimaru had ordered her to be interrogated...

But the room – and the tiny, adjoining cages – were empty.

Sasuke hissed through his teeth.

"What are we looking for?" Haru asked curiously. "I mean, I presume you're looking for something, with the way you're stomping around and growling under your breath..."

Sasuke turned. "When you were with the other slaves, did you ever see a woman with pink hair?"

Haru blinked, the movement almost invisible in the near-darkness that shrouded the dungeons. "No – why?"

Sasuke pushed past him and retraced his steps out of the dungeons.

Sakura breathed a silent sigh of relief at the fact the darkness had concealed the shocked look she knew must have decorated her face and followed him.

Sasuke...was looking for her?

Sasuke, for his part, was silently running through all the possible options that could befall a slave in Sound. He'd checked the cafeteria, the dungeons, the interrogation room...

Sasuke grimaced as he realised there was another option. Sakura was beautiful enough to have been claimed by one of the elites as their exclusive slave, the way Haru was for him. Except that Sasuke knew most people in Sound made sexual use of their personal slave.

Like a bloodhound on the trail on a wounded rabbit, he went to the elites' quarters, kicking in the first door he could find.

A woman cried out and cringed away, but her hair was black, not pink. The next room held a blonde with bruises around her wrists. The next one held a man.

Sasuke went through the elite barracks like a storm, kicking in each and every door...but there was no Sakura to be found.

"Can I ask why you were kicking doors in?" Haru piped up as they left. The boy sounded a little shaken – probably a product of what they'd seen in those rooms. "Or is that not allowed?"

Sasuke glared at him and did not reply.

At least he had established that Sakura wasn't in Sound. She had probably escaped from the slavers, or they'd never caught her in the first place.

Or she was dead, but Sasuke found that train of thought strangely unsettling, so he didn't dwell on it. Still, something in him relaxed at the idea that Sakura was not a slave in this fortress.

Sasuke strode back to his room, never realising that his green-eyed slave was shooting him some very strange looks.

-xxx-

"_Abruptly the poker of memory stirs the ashes of recollection and uncovers a forgotten ember, still smoldering down there, still hot, still glowing, still red as red."_

_-William Manchester _

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to my wonderful beta, justcallmefaye, for looking over this chapter!_


	3. Suspicions

**Chapter 3**

**Suspicions**

**  
**_"Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other."_

_-Carl Jung_

-xxx-

"I think you should have learned by now to walk in the opposite direction whenever you see him," Sasuke mused from the bedroom.

"I did walk in de oppothite direction," Sakura insisted from the bathroom, her voice alternating between blocked and nasal and normal pitch and rhythm as she tried pinching her nose to stop the bleeding.

Since being imprisoned in Sound, she'd tried to escape a total of three times. The second time, she'd heard someone coming and (having learned from her previous escape attempt) simply made her way back to Sasuke's room as quickly as possible, sliding through the door barely a corridor ahead of the patrolling guards.

As before, Sasuke had said nothing. Sakura still couldn't figure out why.

The third time she'd been almost out of Sound entirely; she'd actually been opening the door of the hidden entrance she'd been hustled in through, ready to run home to Konoha...when Arashi and another guard had emerged from a nearby storeroom. Sakura had suspicions they'd been drinking sake or sneaking extra helpings of chocolate (she was sure they had been doing something they shouldn't!) and had seen her.

Sakura had been rather frightened at the idea that they might report her attempted escape to Orochimaru, only to have her fears proved groundless...at least in that matter. Slaves tried to escape so often that it was up to the guards who caught them to administer punishment.

So Arashi and his friend had simply given Sakura what she thought could truly run for the worst beating of her life.

It had been difficult to take, not only because she had been making an effort not to scream and give those sadists the satisfaction, but also because she had been trying not to fight back. With the collar on, it was debatable whether or not she'd actually have won the fight...but if she broke out some ninja moves, Arashi was certain to become more suspicious than he already was.

So, though it took more willpower than Sakura had ever thought she possessed, she'd lain passively on the floor while she was kicked around like a beach ball. She vaguely recalled someone kicking her head into a wall before the whole world went fuzzy.

She'd awoken alone in the corridor, lying on the floor with a small, sticky pool of blood haloed around her head. She had taken slow, careful inventory of her injuries, noting that her temple was dripping blood, her left cheekbone was probably broken, her nose was bleeding and her probing tongue had found a split lip in addition to two very loose teeth.

Her right arm had come up to cover her head at some point in time, and subsequently been broken by a sharp kick. With every breath she took her ribs had stung like a knife in her side, so she had believed she could safely assume a few of them were broken as well.

Her body had been felt strangely numb, as though she were in so much pain her brain simply couldn't deal with it. Her mind had been fogged and cloudy, and she vaguely admitted it was a miracle her transformation hadn't dropped.

Somehow – Sakura couldn't quite recall how – she'd mustered enough energy to force her fingers into the necessary signs to repair the damage her head had taken and take care of any internal bleeding. And then she'd passed out again.

She'd come to again feeling a little better, but still aching and strangely numb. Ignoring the dizziness brought on by the collar, she'd performed a healing jutsu again, this time repairing her broken arm and ribs and setting her loose teeth. She had been able to heal the broken bones completely, though she hadn't been able to do anything about the bruised muscle and tissue around them. For a moment, she'd thought she was going to pass out again, but after a few moments of grey nothingness closing in on her vision, she had found the strength to hitch herself into a standing position before slowly, painfully, hobbling back to Sasuke's room.

She had been seriously considering just curling up in a ball of misery beneath her blankets and attempting to sink into unconsciousness, but Sasuke was already awake by the time she'd returned. Apparently in the time it took her to regain consciousness (both the first and the second time) most of the 'night' had passed.

"Do you think you need medical attention?" Sasuke's voice drifted into the bathroom, breaking her train of thought.

"Ib you mean dat creeby guy wid glathes...no, I don'd need medical addetion."

Sakura almost wanted to laugh at how she sounded. The combination of a nose blocked with blood and a split lip made for interesting speech.

But she was being perfectly honest; there was no way she was letting Kabuto anywhere near her.

Sasuke shrugged as Haru came out of the bathroom, apparently having used pieces of toilet paper to stop up his bleeding nose.

Sasuke was privately amazed that Haru had been able to walk back to the room. He looked like he'd been stampeded by a herd of oxen – his right arm was such a mass of black and purple bruises Sasuke was surprised it wasn't broken, and his hunched, shuffling walk told the Uchiha that still more injuries were concealed beneath the brown shift.

Haru had said enough for Sasuke to know that Arashi was the one who'd beaten him, and the news hadn't really surprised him. He knew such an incident was commonplace; slaves were beaten everyday for trying to escape, some far more severely than Haru, yet it still didn't sit right with him. Haru's slightly limping walk and mottled skin were unsettling in more ways than one – perhaps because he could finally put a face to Sound's cruelty, perhaps because it seemed so petty to beat someone at such a clear disadvantage...either way, it made him feel uncomfortable, restless, as though he should be doing something about it.

But what? Haru had tried to escape, and been disciplined accordingly. It was the way things worked in Sound.

Sasuke told himself that, and studiously ignored the whisperings of his conscience.

-xxx-

The next day was worse. All Sakura's bruises and torn muscles had become stiff and swollen, and she could barely roll out of her pile of blankets. She needed to rely on the support of the wall to stand.

Sasuke took one look at Haru – now resplendent in purple, blue and even black bruises, struggling to stand upright – and knew there was no way the boy could follow him throughout Sound as he usually did. He could try, but he'd probably end up collapsed in a heap by noon.

"Stay here." The command flew from his mouth without thinking.

"Really?" Haru looked as though he was seriously contemplating worshiping him.

"Don't do anything," Sasuke went on. "I don't want you fumbling around and damaging things."

Haru practically fell back into the pile of blankets. "No problem – I can do nothing. That sounds like a nice thing to do."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted and was gone.

Sakura waited for his footsteps to fade, wondering at his show of kindness. But no matter how nice he was being with her, she needed him far away for what she was about to do.

She needed to mop up most of the damage if she didn't want to be bedridden for days; she didn't feel safe if she wasn't at least healthy enough to attempt another escape. Illogical, yes, but she just felt that Sound was a bad place to be ill or incapacitated in. Sakura knew Sasuke would be suspicious if he returned and all her injuries were magically healed, so she needed to somehow take care of her injuries without sacrificing their appearance. In other words, she needed to mend the bruised or damaged muscles, while leaving the skin itself untouched.

It would be difficult, but Sakura was cautiously optimistic about it. And as Sasuke's footsteps finally vanished, she went to work; slowly, cautiously channeling her chakra into her right arm, healing the strained muscles and tendons she'd been unable to deal with last night.

It took longer than she'd expected, mostly because the collar limited her power, often causing her to cease healing before she fainted, and so she had to heal herself in a jerky stop-start fashion rather than one continuous session. In fact, by the time Sakura determined she had done all she could safely do, she was startled to realise she had spent hours in a healing trance (there was no clock but she could tell by the way the lamp had burned down).

With a hasty trip to the bathroom to check that she still looked battered and bruised – and to make sure she hadn't inadvertently dropped the transformation while she was healing herself – Sakura crawled back into her blankets, determined to sleep for the rest of the day. Her stomach was grumbling rather insistently, but she'd gone on missions where she'd been unable to eat for days, so this was nothing.

And at the moment, her exhaustion far outweighed her hunger.

-xxx-

"Get up!"

Sakura turned over, jolted from her sleep to see Sasuke standing over her. "I love your wake-up calls," she said sarcastically. "They're so gentle and considerate."

"Dinner," he said shortly, flicking his head at the tray resting just inside the door.

"You're forgiven!" Sakura pronounced, scrambling upright, making sure to keep her movements ginger and halting as though her muscles were still stiff and tender.

Breakfast was a communal thing (at least on her part – Sasuke always awoke before her, and she'd never seen him eat breakfast) and Sasuke took lunch with Orochimaru, but dinner was brought to his room – probably by another slave. And since Sakura had begun to serve him as his exclusive slave, there had been two dinners delivered.

Sakura reached for her plate and began to wolf down her food. She could always tell which meal was hers; while it couldn't be called sparse, she was never given as large a helping as Sasuke was, and her dinner was always free of side-dishes and sauces.

Sasuke ignored her hurried devouring and proceeded to eat very neatly and cleanly, but that wasn't new. Sasuke had always been surprisingly fastidious in table manners – probably that strict clan upbringing.

"You're looking more mobile," he commented blandly.

"You'd be surprised what a day of rest can do," Sakura smirked.

-xxx-

Sasuke rested the back of his head against the cold stone, drawing in deep gulps of air as sweat slid over his skin, feeling a sort of triumph as his muscles ached and burned. He'd pushed himself to the very limit today.

Haru held out a glass of cool water, which Sasuke took and drained before tossing it back to him. Under normal circumstances, the dark-haired boy would have made some remark, but with Orochimaru and Kabuto still present in the arena he was playing mute again.

Sasuke didn't think Haru had so much as sighed in Orochimaru's presence during the whole time he'd been in Sound.

"We are moving soon, Sasuke," the snake sannin informed him. "Pack your things; we head out tomorrow."

Sasuke nodded vaguely, and Orochimaru and Kabuto left the arena.

To Sakura's great relief. She had little interaction with them, but she didn't like having them around – they were sadistic psychopaths, who would?

"Does that include me, or do I get another job now?" she asked, fiddling with the empty cup.

"That includes you," Sasuke said shortly.

"No offense, but I think you're touched in the head to be learning from that guy," she muttered as they left the underground arena and moved towards Sasuke's room.

Sasuke glanced at Haru, wondering at what seemed like a hint of bitterness in the slave's voice. "I need to become powerful; he is simply the path to that power."

"If you say so..." Sakura muttered.

_'Honestly, I don't see why you couldn't have stayed in Konoha, but perhaps that's just me,'_ she thought sarcastically.

Sasuke couldn't help wondering about the slightly hurt tone Haru seemed to take when he spoke of Orochimaru and Sasuke's alliance with Sound. After all, why should a slave care what he did?

Just one more mystery to add to the ever-growing heap concerning the boy.

At least Haru's bruises had finally vanished, though he had healed from Arashi's beating in a surprisingly short time.

"Lord Sasuke!" a shinobi called from behind them. "Lord Sasuke!"

Sasuke stopped, half-turning as he waited for the man to catch up with him.

"I made inquiries about a pink-haired woman, as you instructed," the man said, and Sakura had to work to keep her jaw from hitting the floor. "And one of the slaving groups dispatched recently mentioned that they'd been apprehending a family of travelers when a pink-haired kunoichi with a Leaf headband intervened. In the ensuing fight, she fell into the river and was swept downstream. They pursued, but found him-" he nodded at Haru "-instead, and so took him to fulfill their quota."

"Hn." Sasuke turned away and began walking again, effectively dismissing the shinobi.

So, Sakura had indeed met up with a slave party...but it seemed as though she'd escaped. And yet, something still didn't sit right with Sasuke.

-xxx-

Sakura hefted Sasuke's bags, huffing as she shifted the weight to a more comfortable balance over her shoulders. Sasuke might not have much in terms of material possessions, but he had a lot of weapons.

Sakura wished she could use just a touch of her super-strength. The bags weren't dragging on her shoulders yet...but they had several hours of travel ahead of them.

"Do actually own anything besides weapons?" she asked.

"Not really," Sasuke said.

"Has anyone ever told you that you desperately need a life?" Haru asked. "Because you do."

Sasuke glared, but it didn't seem to quell the slave.

"Did you have an accident or something? Because it's like the only expressions you can make are scowl, smirk and disinterest."

This was strangely reminiscent of Sasuke's genin days in Konoha and his arguments with Naruto. Except seeing as Haru was his slave with ambitions of escape, Sasuke wasn't concerned that he might get too close, that he might become too attached to the boy.

Haru's gaze shifted past him and his face fell, his expression becoming markedly grimmer. Sasuke turned, his eyes narrowing as he watched the elites hustling their exclusives, preparing to move out. It was certainly distasteful, but it was an aspect of Sound he just had to tolerate.

Sakura couldn't help but be unsettled by the sight. She hadn't really allowed herself to think about how bad things could get for her; she'd just concentrated on surviving. But now she was facing a very sobering realisation that in many ways, she was very lucky that Sasuke had chosen her.

She wondered how Sasuke could be so cold-blooded about it. The boy she knew would never have stood by while people were so obviously suffering abuse...but then again, maybe she had never really known Sasuke at all.

She shook her head, firmly clearing it of such thoughts to focus on the immediate situation. "So...how are we going to do this?"

"Orochimaru, Kabuto and I will set off first," Sasuke explained. "The elites come in groups staggered over the rest of the day, all taking alternate routes."

"Clever," Haru nodded. "If you're an unhinged psychopath trying to avoid being apprehended."

Sasuke glared, but Haru merely raised an eyebrow in a blatant challenge. "How am I wrong?"

Then Orochimaru stepped into the room, and Haru drew the mask of a cowed slave over his face like a veil. It made Sasuke wonder exactly how good an actor the boy was, to give such a convincing illusion of subservience when he was anything but.

"Ready to go, Sasuke?" Orochimaru asked, the subtle hiss in his voice making the hairs on the back of Sakura's neck stand up. There was just something about Orochimaru that made her think of a giant snake; the yellow eyes, the pale skin, the bizarre tongue and the slight hiss that seemed to underscore his words all served to reinforce the image.

Sasuke nodded, and then they set off, moving through the forest at a brisk pace.

It wasn't what Sakura had expected. She had thought Orochimaru would have insisted on being transported in a litter carried by half a dozen slaves. It seemed very...unlike him, somehow...to be traveling cross-country on foot at what amounted to a rather sedate pace – for ninja, at least.

But then, she supposed that litter-thing would be more likely to attract attention, and not flashing across the countryside at top-speed was either another way to avoid detection, or a concession to her – as Sasuke's exclusive slave, they probably thought her unable to keep up with such a pace.

And she was going to do nothing to disillusion them. As the hours stretched on, she deliberately began to make her breathing just a touch heavier, giving the impression that she was not as strong as she really was. Sasuke knew she was ninja, of course, but she would be sure to leave him – and Orochimaru and Kabuto – with the impression she was a fairly weak one; the less threatening they thought her, the better off she was.

Though they had set off early in the morning, the sun was dipping below the horizon by the time they came across a towering wall, like the kind that surrounded Konoha, the uniformity of the stone broken only by a large metal gate in front of them.

The looming doors opened, and Sakura realised this must be Sound's village. Not just an underground base, but a real village.

It was rather surreal. Sakura had never really thought of Sound as being like the other hidden villages, at least, not as much as having actual houses and actual, civilian people living in it. But sure enough, there were houses and roads and markets and everything you would expect in a village.

But the similarities ended there. The people scurried about their business like field mice watching for a hawk overhead: nervous, jittery and trying to get everything done as fast as possible. Children stayed close to their parents, clinging to their hands, and families traveled like amorphous blobs, no member straying more than ten inches away from the protective cluster.

This was a village ruled by fear.

Sakura looked at the terrified, worried faces around her, and felt deeply moved by sympathy. As soon as she got back to Konoha, she was blabbing the location of this village to Tsunade; surely she'd do something to try to help these people?

Orochimaru and Kabuto peeled away from them – Sakura didn't want to know where they were going – with a comment that Sasuke knew where to go. She doubted it was meant for her reassurance; probably to remind Sasuke where they expected him to be.

"So...where are we going?" she asked when they were out of earshot.

Sasuke didn't answer.

"Fine, be that way!" she huffed.

They traveled the winding streets of the Sound village until they came upon what Sakura thought must have once been a lord's house. It was certainly the largest in the village, and had a substantial garden bordered by a tall fence.

"We stay here?"

Sakura assumed the answer was 'yes' when Sasuke produced a key and unlocked the gate. She supposed it made sense for Orochimaru to stay in what was clearly the most luxurious house in the village; if nothing else, it impressed his status upon his minions.

Sasuke led her into the house and Sakura's impression of luxury was only increased. "This is pretty swanky."

"The house once belonged to the lord of these lands," Sasuke said absently.

Sakura blinked at his back. _Now_ he chose to talk to her?

Still, she'd take advantage of it while she could. "So...where's your room?"

"Up these stairs. It was the room of the lord's first son."

Sakura nodded – a wasted gesture, really, since she was behind him. "Where will I sleep?"

"You're a slave."

"And you're a jerk...anything else you want to add while we're stating the obvious?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You're a slave – more specifically, you are my slave. You will sleep in my room as you have always done."

"I guess I can live with that."

Sasuke opened a door and stepped in, Sakura following. After his spartan room in the underground base, she was rather taken aback at the amount of furniture in this room. There was a four-poster bed hung with rich purple curtains, a dresser and chest of drawers inlaid with what looked like ivory carvings, a weapons rack that took up half a wall, a nightstand made of a wood she didn't recognise but that certainly looked expensive, and an enormous window overlooking the gardens, a large window seat running underneath it with plump cushions at either end.

Sakura whistled, impressed. She shrugged the bags off her shoulders and to the floor, taking the weapons out and placing them on the rack automatically, her eyes devouring every inch of this new area before staring out the window as she calculated the fastest route from it to the wall.

Sasuke watched Haru set up his weapons, the boy's mind obviously on escape once more. He was staring out the window, his eyes tracking what Sasuke guessed would be possible routes out of the village.

As though sensing Sasuke's gaze on him, Haru turned around, his eyes dark with thought, brain turning behind them like the well-oiled wheels of a clock...

And then just like that it slotted into place, like the final piece of a puzzle. Sasuke knew where he'd seen those eyes before.

-xxx-

That night – while Haru was arranging his blankets on the small window seat and affording Sasuke a perfect view of his face – Sasuke struck with all the deadliness and accuracy of a cobra.

"Are you related to Haruno Sakura?"

Naked panic flared across the Haru's face for one brief moment before it was stifled. "No...why?"

Sasuke could admit the boy was good; unless he'd been watching his face in the exact instant he'd asked the question, he would never have guessed Haru so much as knew the name.

But he _had_ been watching Haru's face, and he _had_ seen the instant of panic before the boy smothered it.

So...it seemed that Haru was related to Sakura. He had been fairly certain the boy was; after all, his green eyes were exactly the shade Sakura's were, and they were even the same shape! While there might not be much family resemblance in the rest of his visage, those eyes made his hereditary clear.

If he _was_ related to Sakura...how? He didn't look like a sibling, perhaps a cousin? But even so, why had he never seen Haru before? If they were the same age, they should have attended the Academy at the same time.

Unless he was using a transformation jutsu to make himself seem older or younger.

Sakura's heart was beating so hard she was sure Sasuke could hear. What had she done? What had she let slip? Sasuke's smirk made it clear he knew she'd been lying when she pretended not to recognise the name...did he know?

She told herself to calm down; at this point, it seemed he had nothing more than suspicions. And panicking would do nothing but confirm those suspicions faster than anything else ever could. So she should just calm down, act like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and continue making her bed.

Of course, that was easier said than done. Sakura noted the fine trembling of her hands and turned away to adjust a pillow to hide it from Sasuke.

But if he did find out who she really was...what would happened then?

_'Don't think about that!'_ she told herself firmly. _'You have to calm down, not get more worked up!'_

Sasuke continued to watch her, a disconcertingly smug smirk decorating his face, before he eventually took his sword and left the room, undoubtedly to train.

Leaving Sakura to breathe a silent sigh of relief and concentrate on steadying her hands.

-xxx-

When Sasuke returned, the room was lit only by moonlight, and Haru was fast asleep in the window seat.

He approached the boy, watching for any flickers, any shift in colours...anything to hint at a transformation jutsu. But there was nothing. If a transformation was being used, Haru must have phenomenal chakra control to maintain it while he slept.

Assuming that Haru was his real name. Now that he thought about it, it seemed rather like a shortening of Haruno, and he wouldn't have put it past the green-eyed male to have come up with a false name.

Slowly, silently, Sasuke formed the seals for a technique Orochimaru had taught him, a technique often used in Sound to reveal spies. It disrupted the chakra of transformation jutsus – whether they were used on objects or people – revealing what was being hidden.

He touched his hands to a lock of Haru's hair as gently as he could, trying not to disturb the slumbering boy, the physical contact triggering the initiation of the jutsu.

And the hair's brown hue washed away like paint, the tan skin lightened, the face softened and lost its sharp, angular features. The Adam's Apple vanished, the nose became smaller, the chin less prominent, the hands more fine-boned, more delicate...

Sasuke stared down at the person he had just revealed, feeling as though he'd just been hit by his own Chidori.

It wasn't Sakura's cousin.

-xxx-

_"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us."_

_-Ralph Waldo Emerson_

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye, who is the world's promptest beta!_


	4. Unmasked

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**Chapter 4**

**Unmasked**

"_Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it."  
-Montaigne_

-xxx-

Sasuke was rarely in a situation where he didn't know what to do. Even if he had no precise plan, he usually had an _idea_ of what he should do.

Except now.

He watched Sakura slumber quietly, wondering if he should rouse her and...then what? What would he do? What would he say?

For once in his life, Sasuke didn't have the faintest clue.

Sakura stirred, muttering a little in her sleep, and Sasuke backed away automatically, sitting down on his bed and watching the transformation cloak her once more as he broke the jutsu.

Sakura...was Haru. Haru, the gutsy slave who spent most of the day mouthing off to him...had been Sakura, all along.

His mind seemed to have trouble grasping it. It was _Sakura_ who'd sniped at him and used sarcasm like a weapon. It was _Sakura_ who had taken a whip across her arm without a flinch. It was _Sakura_ who'd staggered back to his room after a beating that would have crippled many hardened warriors.

And more importantly, it was Sakura who had not given him the slightest hint at her identity. She hadn't revealed herself to him when they were alone, trusting him to help her. She hadn't tried to convince him to come back – in fact, if any of her escape attempts had been successful, she would have left Sound far behind her without him ever having the slightest suspicion of who she really was.

He refused to acknowledge the kernel of disappointment that sprouted within him at the thought.

And now that he knew who she was...what was he going to do? He knew that he should report her to Orochimaru – the amount of information she could take back to Konoha was staggering – but he felt no need to. He knew Orochimaru was corrupt; why should he make an effort to prevent the sannin's inevitable downfall?

He knew he should tell Sakura, but he found himself not wanting to do that, either. If she knew that he knew...it would only complicate things. The way they were now was simple; she wanted to escape, so he'd let her escape. Then she'd go back to Konoha and he could go back to his training, and he could forget this had ever happened as he'd tried to forget his memories of Konoha. Simple, easy, required almost no effort on his part – yes, Sasuke liked that plan.

So that was what he'd do.

Sasuke turned away and walked to his bathroom, preparing for sleep, and trying not to concentrate on the fact that, when he had seen pink hair on the pillow, his first instinct had been to sweep her into his arms and run, run out of Sound to deposit her at Konoha's doorstep.

-xxx-

"What's up with you?" Sakura asked, shaking her head at Sasuke. "That's the third time I've caught you staring at me and we haven't even gone for breakfast yet."

"Hn." Sasuke turned away, cursing himself. Now that he knew it was Sakura in the room with him, it seemed ridiculous he'd ever missed it. It seemed that every time he turned around he was recognising another of Sakura's mannerisms: the way she scowled, the way she crossed her arms, the way she glared...

Unfortunately, it meant he spent a lot of time staring at Sakura, picking out those little tells. He didn't even know why he was doing it, why it was giving him a sense of warmth every time he saw Sakura's true identity peek through her Haru facade.

Green eyes peered curiously at him, and Sasuke jerked his gaze away. While he could watch her, meeting those eyes had become uncomfortable for him ever since he'd learned who was behind them. He didn't know why looking into Sakura's eyes unsettled him – it just did.

"So...breakfast?" Sakura prompted, chalking Sasuke's weird behaviour up to the fact that he was Sasuke – who knew why he did anything?

"Hn. Follow me," he instructed.

"Yes, sir!" Sakura snapped, sarcasm heavy in her tone as she goose-stepped out of the room behind him.

Sasuke still found it a little bewildering that this was _Sakura_ who was standing up to him like this. Who was disparaging him like this.

"Well, are we going to get breakfast or are you just going to stand in the doorway like a particularly useless statue?"

Sasuke glared at her, but as always, his displeasure didn't seem to bother her in the slightest. He could remember a time when his displeasure with her would have made her sad, embarrassed...but now, there was nothing. It was as though she didn't care anymore.

_'Maybe she doesn't...'_ the thought whispered in the back of Sasuke's mind, the concept more upsetting than he would have wanted it to be.

Then he firmly told himself to stop thinking about it. To say nothing, let Sakura escape, and then everything could go back to the way it was before he had figured out who she was, dredging up memories of times better left forgotten.

So, with a slight snort, he set off down the corridor, Sakura hurrying after him. He wound his way through the house, approaching a formal dining room the previous owner would have used for large-scale events such as village-wide councils or treaties between countries.

As he drew closer, he realised he could sense Orochimaru and Kabuto's chakra in the room, as well as that of a large number of Sound shinobi.

Sasuke halted outside, rather puzzled. He knew enough about Sound to know that it was time for the slaves who worked in the house to be taking their breakfast – so why was the hall crammed with shinobi?

He had a sudden urge to turn around and tell Sakura to go back to the room while he determined what was going on. Any break in the routine in Sound usually signaled danger of some kind.

"Are you on drugs?" came an indignant voice from behind him. "Seriously, I want to know. You've been staring at me, staring into space, stopping in the middle of hallways for no reason...what are you taking?"

Sasuke flashed another scowl at her before opening the door, stepping into a room filled with ninja.

"Ah, Sasuke, glad you could join us," Orochimaru hissed. "Tell me, how was your night? Do anything...interesting?"

If there was one thing Sasuke had learned about Orochimaru, it was that he did not make small talk. Everything he said had some purpose, some hidden meaning...and when the sannin's eyes slid past him to alight on Sakura, Sasuke realised what it was.

_'He knows!' _

It should have surprised him, but he found it didn't – not really. There were any number of ways Orochimaru could have known. Cameras hidden in the room, a roof-hopping shinobi glancing into the window last night at the wrong moment...

Sakura went stiff as Orochimaru's eyes sought her out. In that instant, she knew he was aware of her disguise. Call it a hunch, call it intuition...she just _knew_.

She stepped back automatically, some wild thought of just turning around and running for her life thumping through her brain, but someone caught her arm. She whirled, just managing to see Kabuto behind her, one hand gripping her wrist, the other glowing blue with chakra and coming down on the back of her neck...

It was like being hooked up to a thousand volts of electricity for one split-second. The jolt coursed through her body – shocking, but too fast to be considered painful – and when it left Sakura found herself on her knees, hunched over the floor, her hair hanging in her eyes.

Her _pink_ hair.

_'Crap!'_ was all that ran through her head as she took in the pale skin on her arms and legs, the curves of her breast and hip pressing against the material of her shift...it seemed her disguise was well and truly blown. _'Crap!'_

Slowly, she raised her head to look at Orochimaru's sneer, her mind frantically racing to determine the best course of action but coming up blank. She didn't dare look at Sasuke; she needed to be clear-headed if she was going to get out of this and whatever expression was adorning his face now would only serve to muddy her thoughts.

"I think you have made a grave mistake, Haruno Sakura," Orochimaru said, his soft chuckle making something cold and slimy squirm in her gut.

He glanced at the men around him. "Take her."

Well, at least that explained why there were so many shinobi. Sakura was torn between being intimidated by their sheer numbers and flattered that Orochimaru thought he needed this many men to take her down even though she was collared.

But then they were rushing towards her, and she had to react.

Sakura lunged backwards, putting her back against the wall and ensuring no one could come at her from behind – with her chakra sensing made unreliable by the collar, she couldn't guarantee she would be able to sense them coming and avoid them. She had no weapons, but now that she didn't need to maintain the transformation anymore, she had enough chakra to make her own.

With a snarl of defiance, Sakura summoned chakra to her hands, working with her limited energy to form the chakra scalpels that Tsunade had explained to her.

"Anyone that touches me...I'll rip their throats out," she said, her voice low but perfectly clear, ringing with deadly intent.

A few of her more prudent attackers slowed their headlong rush – blind bloodlust beginning to give way to cold calculation – but some simply continued ploughing forward.

A pair of tall men reached her first, and it was the work of a moment to open both their throats with her chakra scalpels. While an efficient weapon, they took some energy to maintain, and Sakura knew that – with the collar on – she had to conserve as much energy as possible.

So she abandoned them in favour of yanking a long blade from one of her would-be attacker's sheaths as their bodies hit the floor. A single sweep of the sword at waist-height disemboweled the first row of enemies, save for one who was a little quicker than the others and dropped into a crouch, lunging forward at the level of her knees.

Sakura leapt high into the air, her feet coming down on the back of his neck, snapping it cleanly with a rather nauseating crunch.

Kicking the body into the mob and knocking several of them down, Sakura had a moment to reflect on how truly desperate her situation was. With the collar on, she was finding it difficult to bring her superhuman strength into play. One good blow would probably end the battle, and then...she really didn't want to think about that.

Sakura leaned back, her hands using the wall as a brace as she snapped her feet out, catching one shinobi in the sternum, cracking it and stopping his heart even as she sent him careening backwards to knock those behind him over like dominoes.

She ducked away from the wild swing of a mace, bringing her weapon up diagonally across her attacker's chest, putting enough force into it to carve through ribs like she was breaking wishbones.

She twisted away and down, letting a sword aimed for her neck slide over her and straight through another opponent. She gained her feet again, about to raise her blade to drive it into the owner of said sword...when another blade suddenly emerged from his chest and he fell.

Sasuke was standing behind him, blood sliding down his sword.

"_She's mine!_" he shouted, his hand closing over her wrist and yanking her towards him, her sword falling to the floor as his fingers dug into her tender nerves and forced her to release it.

"The hell I am!" Sakura growled, raising the arm he hadn't seized and slugging him brutally in the side.

She felt ribs crack beneath her blow, but then she felt a ruthless – and sickeningly familiar – pinch at the back of her neck, and darkness rushed into her vision like a living thing.

-xxx-

When Sakura regained consciousness, she was in Sasuke's room, lying on his bed with the Uchiha himself sitting next to her, staring down at her.

Sakura tensed automatically. She'd been revealed, and while Sasuke had been almost nice to her in the past, that was when he hadn't known who he was talking to. Now that he did...what was he going to do?

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said, cutting in on her thoughts as though he could hear them.

She blinked, staring at him in honest surprise. Uncomfortable with lying down while he sat upright – and the level of vulnerability that entailed, however slight – she sat up and slid away from him, only stopping when her back was pressed against the headboard.

So...what happened now? Considering their last encounter, some cynical part of Sakura had honestly expected Sasuke to draw his sword and slice her into pieces. With the collar on, she'd be lucky to last five seconds against him. Sakura drew her knees up against her chest, unconsciously defensive at the thought.

"What was your mission?" he asked, rather abruptly. Almost as though he'd been going to ask something else but had then changed his mind. "The one you were captured on?"

Sakura didn't answer, glaring at him mutinously over her bent knees.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, somehow managing to look uninterested and yet expectant at the same time. "Are you going to stay silent?"

Sakura had been puzzling over why she had been kept alive ever since she awoke. And it seemed now she had her answer; they wanted information. Orochimaru must have decided that Sasuke should try to weasel the information out of her before they resorted to torture.

"Voluntarily give information about Konoha's missions to a Sound shinobi?" Sakura drawled, rolling her eyes to the ceiling as she sarcastically pretended to consider it. "Gee, let me think – no! You want information, tell snake-man to break out the thumbscrews and hot pokers, because I'm certainly not going to be lulled into giving anything away!"

Sasuke shot her a look that suggested she was deeply stupid. "You weren't kept alive for information."

He said it as though it would have been patently obvious to even a two year-old. Which, of course, it wasn't – Sakura had no idea why Orochimaru hadn't ordered her throat slit while she was unconscious. But she suppressed the urge to throw herself at the Uchiha with a screech of fury; while attacking him would have undoubtedly been immensely satisfying, it would also have been futile.

So, once again, she used a heavy layer of sarcasm to convey her anger and irritation. "Then what, pray tell, _was_ I kept alive for?"

Sasuke smirked a little. "You heard what I said before I knocked you out."

"Yeah..." Sakura said slowly, remembering his rather possessive declaration. "But how does that lead to me still being alive?"

"You may have been in disguise when you first became my slave, but you are still my slave. Your fate is my decision."

Her life was in Sasuke's hands. This was really becoming a strong competitor for 'worst day of her life' – in fact, she thought it might have won. She'd been discovered by Orochimaru, attacked by a slew of ninja, knocked out by Sasuke (again), learned that her life was under the control of a man who seemed to have little compunction about killing her...

_'And it's not even noon yet,'_ she reflected, with more than a tinge of fatalism.

"And Orochimaru just accepted that?" she asked, unable to picture the snake sannin being overly pleased at the idea that a Konoha ninja had been sneaking around his base.

She could certainly picture him being irritated enough to feed her to something large and carnivorous, but she had no idea why he would release her to Sasuke's custody.

Sasuke didn't offer any reply. There was none. He found Orochimaru's acquiescence to Sakura's presence rather strange, to say the least. He had the uncomfortable feeling that this was some kind of test, but he had no idea what the sannin could be testing.

Fortunately, Sakura didn't seem to expect a reply. When her question fell flat, she made no move to speak again, simply watching him, her body taut as though ready to leap out of the way at the slightest hint of an attack.

The tension in her body irritated him. He couldn't quite place the reason why, but some part of him wanted her to relax a little, to look at him with the same fearlessness she had when she was Haru.

It didn't escape him that there was something very ironic about that. She hadn't feared him before, because he hadn't known who she was. But now that she knew he was aware she was one of his former teammates, she feared his reaction.

Still...given their last encounter, Sasuke acknowledged she had good reason to be wary. But didn't she know he couldn't do such a thing, not now that the collar left her so unable to defend herself against him?

"When you said there were people looking for you, you meant Naruto, didn't you?" he asked, hoping the mention of the blonde man would put her at ease.

But her reaction was the exact opposite. She became even more rigid, her eyes even more wary. "Of course I did. And Kakashi and Sai and everyone else."

Even if Sai did disparage her looks and was even more socially clueless than Sasuke had been...they really had become friends. And she had no doubt that her teammates would be scouring the countryside for her – Naruto especially.

It was reassuring, in a way, but she didn't allow herself to think about them much. Because, while it might be comforting, it was more depressing than anything else. She didn't want to think about how they would be worrying over her, about how they must be assuming all sorts of hideous things were happening to her...no, it was better to just focus on getting home.

"Do you know how he found out?" Sakura asked dully.

Sasuke had asked the same thing. Orochimaru had confirmed one of his suspicions; there had indeed been a ninja roof-hopping at just the wrong time. He'd seen Sasuke initiate the jutsu, seen Sakura's transformation peeled away...and had reported it.

"_But of course, you were going to tell me all about that, weren't you?" Orochimaru had grinned._

"_Hn." Sasuke had chosen not to tell him that he'd never had any intention of doing so. Something in the sannin's eyes told him he already suspected that._

"_Well, she's all yours now," Orochimaru said, his tone turning so salacious Sasuke couldn't doubt his meaning. "Enjoy."_

And not a moment had gone by since then that Sasuke didn't curse himself for not closing the curtains last night. Innuendo aside, he was certain Orochimaru's motives were not as simple as they first appeared – they never were.

So Sasuke just shrugged, his face twisting a little when his fractured ribs twinged.

"I got some of your ribs, huh?" Sakura said with a wintry smile.

Sasuke refused to acknowledge her slightly triumphant expression. He also refused to admit he was a little impressed – he was sure that, if she hadn't been collared, the blow would have been strong enough to snap his spine in two.

And she was showing no concern over the fact that she'd injured him – he had expected her to offer to heal him the moment she realised what her blow had done, regardless of whether she was actually capable of doing so with the collar on. But she hadn't: she was simply watching him with a cold, victorious smile curling her lips.

This was clearly a very different Sakura to the one he remembered.

With a barely noticeable grimace of frustration and pain, Sasuke rose from the bed. Sakura was conscious, and now he had to find Kabuto so the medic could heal his ribs.

"So...what happens to me now?" Sakura asked quietly, her eyes downcast.

Something in Sasuke's chest squeezed at the sight of her looking so...resigned. "You will stay here. Lunch will be delivered to you, but you are not permitted to leave this room."

"_What?_" Sakura shrieked, resignation melting away in a hot rush of fury.

But Sasuke's eyes were as hard and flat as polished onyx. "Do not make me lock you in."

For an instant, their eyes clashed in outright war. Then Sakura turned her head away, staring out the window instead of at him as he left the room.

She knew she'd lost this round...but she had no intention of losing the war. She needed to play along for now – an unlocked door held far more opportunities than a locked one. The window was an obvious choice for an escape route...too obvious. She wouldn't have put it past Orochimaru to post a guard hidden somewhere in the garden whose sole purpose was to stare at the window and make sure she didn't try to slip out through it.

On that suspicion, she clambered onto her makeshift bed and leaned out the window, staring down into the garden. Sure enough, there were two shinobi in the garden, standing motionlessly, their eyes trained on her. Sakura waited several moments, to see if they would move, before she casually slung a leg over the sill, as though she were about to climb out.

Their hands slid to their weapons.

With an exasperated sigh, Sakura withdrew the limb and flopped back onto her bed, counting down ten minutes before she checked again, just in case they'd only been doing the rounds of the garden of something...

But they were still in the same place, still staring at the window.

Sakura shut the window and kicked the wall in a fit of petulance. The window was still a viable option, but an extra level of complications had just been added. Her best bet was probably to transform into some random slave and just walk out the front door on the pretense of performing some sort of errand for her masters. It would be far from easy, and the plan certainly required a lot more development, but it was her best option.

So the medic simply sighed, slumping back onto her window seat. Was the first day she was discovered too soon to try to escape? She thought it was – give it a few days, allow everything to settle down, let the guards become complacent...and then she'd make her move.

-xxx-

Sasuke walked back to his room at the end of day, wondering if he'd find Sakura in it or if she'd tried to escape already. It had felt slightly strange to go to training without a green-eyed shadow trailing behind him...but of course, the green-eyed shadow he had become so accustomed to had been Sakura all along, and Sasuke still wasn't quite sure how he felt about that.

He opened the door, only half-expecting to see Sakura sitting on her makeshift bed, staring out the window at the setting sun. Her eyes flickered towards him, but she didn't acknowledge his presence.

Her indifference to him irritated Sasuke. He didn't know what he had expected, but he'd expected _something_.

Sakura studiously ignored Sasuke as he strode through the room and into the bathroom, the sound of water pelting against tile telling her he was showering. She knew she should be trying to persuade Sasuke to return to Konoha...but she was tired, worried for her friends, and she just wanted to go home.

Her throat prickled a little, but Sakura ruthlessly squashed the reaction, focusing on her rage at being held here against her will. Anger and sarcasm were a better refuge than tears and despair.

The sun dipped below the horizon and darkness seeped into the room, but Sakura didn't bother to turn on the lights. Instead, she just curled up in her bed, shutting her eyes and surrendering to her physical and mental exhaustion, hoping she would wake in the morning and find this had all been some kind of crazy dream.

She knew she should stay awake at least until their dinner was delivered, but Sakura had no appetite. Not tonight.

-xxx-

When she awoke in the morning, the room was deserted, and for a moment Sasuke thought Sasuke had already left for training. But no sooner had the thought flown through her mind than the door opened and Sasuke strode in, carrying two apples.

"Here," he said abruptly, tossing them to her.

Sakura caught them, blinking in puzzlement. He was clearly giving her breakfast – her puzzlement didn't arise from that, but from trying to discern his motives. He had made no attempt to bully or hurt her, had actually bargained with her about locking the door yesterday, and was now bringing her breakfast in a clearly altruistic move.

In short, nothing of his behaviour fit with the Sasuke she and Naruto had confronted a few months ago. This was more reminiscent of the boy she'd known in their genin days – cold and aloof, but considerate and caring underneath that, no matter how much he protested otherwise.

For a moment, she wondered if her presence had somehow caused him to regress, but dismissed the thought.

Sasuke watched her bite into her apple, and decided now was as good a time as any to address their problem.

"You'll have to get rid of the blankets," he instructed bluntly.

She blinked at him and swallowed the bit of apple she had been chewing. "Why?"

Sasuke had been hoping a little of the old Sakura still dwelled within her – the one who had always assumed that his advice was the best, and had done whatever he asked. He really didn't want to explain why this was a necessity...

"Just do it!"

"Why?" she repeated calmly.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and made an effort to keep his face expressionless. "You won't need them; you'll be sleeping in the bed from now on."

"With you?" Sakura thought her eyes might pop out of their sockets. "Hell, no!"

There was no way she was sleeping next to Sasuke. She was no masochist – she wasn't going to compound her heartache by tantalising herself with things she could never have.

"We have to."

Sakura glared and fought the urge to cram the apple in her hand down his throat and watch him choke on it. "Care to explain that reasoning to me?"

Sasuke sighed, as though dealing with a difficult child. "Orochimaru allowed me to keep you as my slave because he believes I am using you for a very specific purpose. A purpose which would make it seem suspicious if we are not sharing the bed."

Comprehension dawned on Sakura. Orochimaru had allowed her to remain as Sasuke's slave because he thought Sasuke would now...would now be having sex with her.

"Ewww," she muttered, wrinkling her nose at the thought that an overgrown, fifty-something snake was speculating on her sex life.

Sasuke felt a little offended at the obvious distaste written across her features. Was the idea of sex with him really so repulsive? Apparently so, because Sakura looked well and truly disgusted.

But it passed, and her expression became speculative. "What would happen if he found out that we aren't having sex? That you're keeping me around for...whatever reason you're keeping me around for?"

Sasuke didn't answer. He could make an educated guess at what would happen to her – Sakura would be interrogated, and if she survived the torturer's attentions, she would be handed over to one of Sound's elites as a plaything. But he had no real concrete idea of what would happen to him. He was certain that this was some kind of test, and he was equally certain that he was failing whatever warped standard Orochimaru was holding him to by refusing to take sexual advantage of Sakura. So while he didn't know exactly what would happen to him if the ruse was ever discovered, he knew it would undoubtedly be unpleasant.

Something in his demeanor must have answered Sakura's question, for she nodded very slightly in understanding, as though he'd given an eloquent verbal reply instead of stony silence. The idea that she might have been able to pick up on his mental speculations was unsettling on more than one level, and he looked away, rising and reaching for his weapons.

There was something surprisingly domestic in the scene, Sakura reflected as she bit into her fruit once more – her eating the apples he'd brought her, and him preparing for his training. Of course, they'd shared many other 'domestic' moments previously, but this time was different. This time, she wasn't cloaked in a transformation – this time, he knew it was her.

"Do not leave the room," he barked before he shut the door.

Sakura made a rather rude gesture at the closed door. Pointless, yes, but it eased the sting of bitterness at the fact that her captive status could not have been clearer. When she had been disguised as Haru, she had possessed some small measure of freedom, but now even that had been taken from her.

She knew she had promised herself she would try to convince Sasuke to return to Konoha...but she was just so _mad_ at him! She could either be really sad over what had happened to them – to all of them, Naruto included – or she could be really furious at him.

And frankly, Sakura knew which option she preferred. Anger she could deal with, anger she could handle. Anger was much, much safer than wallowing in misery.

But still...she had to try. For Naruto's sake, if nothing else.

Sakura decided she would give herself one more day. One more day to sulk and rage at him and the world...and then she'd try to make nice.

One more day.

-xxx-

By the time Sasuke returned, Sakura was half out of her mind with boredom. She knew it would be a bad idea to attempt an escape when she had yet to form a real plan, but she had been sorely tempted to just jump out the window and run for it, guards be damned. Even taking into account the fact that she'd suffer for being caught, at least healing the resulting injuries would give her something to do!

With a sigh, Sakura ran through the kata she was performing for the tenth time, figuring that as long as she was stuck here without anything else to do, she might as well use the time to work on her form.

She heard the door open, and her eyes flickered over to Sasuke as she completed the last of the moves. She saw his glance skim over the window seat, now bare of blankets – she had obeyed him, and folded them away in the closet during the course of the day.

Just because she didn't like the idea of sleeping in the same bed as him didn't mean she didn't understand why it was important. From what he had told her, Orochimaru had handed her to Sasuke on the premise that he would use her as a sex toy, and she understood that it was important they make the sannin believe that was happening.

The more Sakura thought about it, the more she realised that Sasuke's claim on her had probably saved her from a far worse fate...but she couldn't puzzle out why he'd done it. After all, he had tried to kill Naruto barely months ago, so why would he make such an effort to keep her safe now?

Dinner was silent affair – Sakura couldn't begin to guess why on Sasuke's part (probably because he was just naturally antisocial), but she was doing her very best not to think about the fact that they would soon be sharing a bed. There was something very surreal about the situation – they were barely on speaking terms with each other, yet they were preparing to sleep side by side.

She went through her bedtime ritual automatically, her mind running in circles like a mouse in an exercise wheel. Her stomach was knotting in a combination of dread and eager anticipation – dread because she was sure this would do her emotional stability no good, and eager anticipation because she couldn't quite stomp out her traitorous heart's joy in being close to him.

_'I'll have to work on that,'_ she told herself.

It hadn't been this difficult when she had been Haru...but back then, she'd been playing a part, hiding behind the identity of a fictional boy with some degree of ninja training. Now there was no mask to raise in front of her, no veil to hide behind.

Now, she was just Sakura, with all that entailed.

She emerged from the bathroom, passing Sasuke on his way in as she headed for the bed, determined not to flutter and worry about it, but just go to bed as though she slept next to ex-teammates who'd betrayed the village every day. After all, making a big deal out of this would only make her more anxious than she already was.

Sakura slipped beneath the sheets she was fairly sure were made of silk or some equally expensive and luxurious material, lying as far towards the side as she comfortably could, facing away from the center to ensure Sasuke would be presented with her back. This would be difficult enough without looking into his eyes as she fell asleep – that she simply refused to do, afraid of what her own eyes might reveal to him as exhaustion lowered her guard.

She had chosen the side nearest the window so she could stare into the night, searching for constellations she recognised as the stars shimmered like diamonds strewn across black velvet.

She tensed, but didn't so much as blink as Sasuke finished up in the bathroom and moved quietly to the bed. Sakura felt a cool draft of air caress her back as he lifted the blankets and slid within their warm cocoon.

She could feel the heat radiating from his body, feel the blankets on top of her shift every time he breathed. She wondered if he felt a shift when she breathed, or if her movements were too small in comparison to be noticed above his own.

Then she told herself to stop thinking on that and concentrate on resting. Her muscles were tight and tense, and she concentrated on breathing deeply in and out – a little meditation trick Tsunade had taught her.

When she felt her body loosen a little, Sakura closed her eyes and tried to quiet her mind, though she had a feeling sleep would be a long time in coming.

-xxx-

"_As simple as it sounds, we all must try to be the best person we can: by making the best choices, by making the most of the talents we've been given."_

_-Mary Lou Retton_

-xxx-

_AN: A huge thanks to justcallmefaye, who is the very best beta!_


	5. Intentions

**Chapter 5**

**Intentions**

_"Antipathy, dissimilarity of views, hate, contempt, can accompany true love."_

_-J August Strindberg_

-xxx-

When Sasuke awoke, he was first bemused to realise that he'd fallen asleep, and then confused at the fact that one of his arms had gone numb. As he became more aware of his surroundings, enough to realise why that was so, he felt his breath come in sharply, ripping through his throat.

Somehow – he didn't know how, or why – he and Sakura had moved during the night. They had twisted so that they were facing each other on their sides, and his former teammate's head was pillowed against his upper arm, explaining why it had gone numb. Their legs were tangled together and his other arm was slung over her waist as though to anchor her to him, while her hands were curled against his chest, lightly fisted in his shirt.

Sasuke was surprised he'd even fallen asleep. Three years in Sound had made him wary, alert to even the suggestion of danger – he often jerked awake when approached during slumber, and found it difficult to even begin to nap while in the presence of others.

But not only had he fallen asleep with Sakura barely a few inches away...they'd also come into physical contact during the night, and his internal radar had never registered a threat. Why? Why had his carefully honed senses so blatantly dismissed Sakura as a source of danger?

For a moment, he held himself completely still, not even breathing, wondering why his first impulse had been to pull her even closer and close his eyes once more. He had never really liked people encroaching on his personal space...so why was he so eager to prolong this contact with Sakura?

He didn't dwell on the thought, but instead extricated himself from the bed as silently and unobtrusively as possible. He slowly, gently coaxed her fists open, freeing his shirt as he tried to ease his numb limb out from underneath her. Sakura sighed as his arms slipped from around her, but she didn't stir – merely rolled over and snuggled deeper into the blankets.

Sasuke didn't know why, but something compelled him to pause and take her in, to imprint her on his mind like a developer with a photograph.

Except he didn't know why he should want to remember pastel pink hair against his dark sheets, or the way her spine was just slightly curved as her knees bent and her arms folded, as though she was trying to imitate a sleepy kitten curling into a ball.

Something told him it was a bad idea to have her sleeping in the same bed as him. But it had to be done. This...this thing...was some sort of test. And Orochimaru had never let a test slide by without making some attempt at evaluation. Sasuke didn't know when it would come – maybe tomorrow, maybe months from now...but it would come.

He wasn't sure what kind of evaluation that would be, but he was fairly certain that his room was going to be subjected to impromptu checks in the weeks to come. It would be easy enough for the snake sannin to drum up an excuse to send lackeys into his room to spy, and if they reported that Sakura was still sleeping in the window seat, suspicions would be raised.

Hence, the decision to relocate her to his bed was a precautionary measure, but certainly a necessary one. That way, if one of Orochimaru's spies paid any surprise visits it would look like he was doing what he was meant to be doing.

He left the room to get his breakfast, feeling somewhat relived that she hadn't woken. If she had realised the position they'd somehow ended up in during the night...

Sasuke couldn't picture what would happen, only that it would probably be awkward and unpleasant. And he wasn't quite sure why he cared.

He ate in silence, sitting well away from any of the other ninja. The shinobi of Sound ate before the slaves did, so the majority of them became accustomed to rising before their slaves were awake. After all, if there was an hour or so in which only slaves were awake, it gave them ample time to plan and execute rebellions. This way, they were restricted to whatever time they could snatch in hidden corners and away from their masters' prying eyes.

He remembered to seize a few pieces of fruit for Sakura's breakfast, seeing as she was restricted to his room and wouldn't be able to get breakfast for herself. He didn't think he could blame the snake sannin for this order – if Sakura had managed to kill nearly a dozen shinobi while restrained with the collar, there was no telling the havoc she could wreak if she got most of the slaves in the mansion stirred up along with her.

Sasuke pondered that for a moment, but remembering how Sakura had cut a swathe through so many well-trained ninjas like she was mowing grass made him vaguely uneasy, so he soon halted that train of thought. If he didn't dwell on it, he could pretend it never happened, and that the Sakura sleeping in his room was exactly like the Sakura he remembered.

Shinobi made way when he stalked through the halls back to his room, automatically bowing to acknowledge the presence of Orochimaru's apprentice even as their eyes glittered with resentment. But that was what Sound was: resentment and cruelty, with an undercurrent of power because being powerful was the only way you survived in a society like this.

Offhand, Sasuke couldn't think of anyone less suited to this environment of darkness and pain than Sakura. Though there was Naruto...

They were meant for different things. Some part of him had always known that.

The Uchiha heard the cursing even before he opened his door – apparently this new Sakura was very vocal in her frustration.

Sasuke found her in front of the bathroom mirror, her head tilted back just enough so that she had a clear view of the collar in the glass, the tip of a senbon jammed into the tiny lock as she twisted it back and forth.

"You're trying to pick the lock," Sasuke stated.

"_Trying_ being the operative word, there," Sakura grumped, maneuvering the tiny weapon as carefully as she could, waiting to feel the click as the tumblers slid into place...but it didn't come.

It hadn't ever come, and she'd been trying ever since she'd woken up. If she could pick the lock...she could get away. Without the collar, nothing could stop her. She doubted Sasuke would bother, and she'd be far away by the time Orochimaru or Kabuto realised she was gone.

Assuming Sasuke didn't tell them and send them after her. But Sakura knew he wouldn't, for the same reason he wouldn't try to stop her if she escaped. She had no idea why he had decided to keep her in his room...but she did know that he wanted her gone as much as she did.

Sasuke shrugged at her answer and left her to it, not helping but not interfering either – which was, she reflected, perfectly descriptive of his usual reaction to her.

She heard him leave, undoubtedly after setting down the fruit she'd seen in his hands; because honestly, why else would Sasuke be carrying fruit around if not to feed her?

The medic continued in her attempt to force the lock, her mutters and curses growing more black and obscene as all her tries proved fruitless.

She was concentrating so intently that the knock on the door made her jump. And seeing as she'd been pressed against the mirror, trying to determine if the lock had some sort of hidden trigger to it, Sakura ended up careening straight into the wooden frame.

She swore, cradling the side of her face as her cheek and chin throbbed. She'd split her lip again.

The woman sighed in frustration, touching the tip of her tongue to the sluggishly-bleeding injury as she set the senbon down. This would have been so much easier if Sasuke owned hairpins. People tended to scoff at such a cliché lockpick, but in truth hairpins really were very useful; they were small and thin enough to fit into almost any lock, weak enough to be manipulated with a bit of effort, but strong enough to force the tumblers.

Of course, that stray thought led to a mental picture of Sasuke with hairpins which gave Sakura a few idle snickers as she left the bathroom.

The knocking came again, but Sakura didn't hurry to open the door. Sasuke wouldn't have bothered to knock, so it was safe to assume that it wasn't Sasuke who was asking for entrance to the room. And if it wasn't Sasuke...who was it?

Sasuke had no idea, but she wasn't about to take any chances. She took an ornate dagger from the weapon rack and held it behind her back in what she hoped was a casual pose before she approached the door.

But when she opened it, she found she needn't have bothered. It was a female slave, dark-eyed and with a rather pretty face, carrying a large jug of water and a small cup.

"Lord Sasuke requested that this be brought for you," she said, her head lowered like that of a submissive dog's.

"Oh...right..." Sakura muttered, shuffling backwards from the doorway so the woman could bring her burden into the room without catching a glimpse of the knife the medic was concealing. Something told Sakura that the woman wouldn't react well.

Apparently, Sasuke had figured out that – along with the lack of breakfast and lunch her confinement brought – she didn't have access to water. Yesterday, she'd drunk from the bathroom tap with her cupped hands. While she knew she could have told him about it, she hadn't wanted to. Asking him for something felt like admitting weakness and Sasuke was too much of an enemy at the moment for her to feel comfortable doing that.

The dark-eyed woman set the water and cup on the dresser, next to the fruit that rested there – an orange, an apple, and a peach. She shot a quick glance at Sakura and the ninja tried to smile reassuringly, feeling terribly conscious of the blade she was concealing.

"Did you fight him?" she asked quietly.

"Noooo..." Sakura said slowly. Did the woman really think she'd be stupid enough to attack Sasuke in her current state?

"So he's the kind who likes them in pain, then?"

Sakura blinked stupidly for a moment, wondering what she meant. Then it hit her – her collision with the mirror frame had left her with a bleeding lip, and probably a livid red mark on her face that hinted at a coming bruise. The woman thought Sasuke had hit her.

"Uh..." Sakura scrambled for something to say, feeling perversely guilty at the idea Sasuke was being blamed for the injury, yet knowing she couldn't tell the woman the truth.

"It's alright," the woman whispered with a comforting smile. "You don't have to talk about it."

She slipped out without another word.

Sakura's guilt deepened. She felt bad about letting an obviously kind woman feel sympathy for her when nothing had actually happened to her.

But she shook her head, telling herself firmly that this was the way it had to be. Everyone in the village had to think that Sasuke was using her for sexual purposes if they wanted Orochimaru to be fooled. One loose tongue was all it would take to ruin it, and then...

Sakura really didn't want to find out what would happen after that.

She set the dagger back on the rack, healed her face with a few minutes of concentration, and turned her attention to her meal. The fruit and water were laid out side by side on the dresser, and for a moment Sakura was forcefully reminded of her neighbour setting out a bowl of food and a bowl of water for her cat.

Sakura picked up the peach and bit into it with a little more gusto than was strictly necessary, irritated at the reminder that she was being kept here like some sort of pet. She had a brief mental image of Sasuke asking Orochimaru if he could keep her, like a five year-old who had found a puppy in the park.

And given that Sasuke had shown a rather disconcerting and painful determination to put an end to Naruto's life, Sakura had a feeling that Orochimaru had agreed just to see how long she could last before Sasuke got irritated or pissed off and wrung her neck.

Still...Sakura couldn't ignore that the man who was bringing her breakfast and ordering water to be delivered to her seemed a very different man from the one she'd seen a few months ago. But then, Sasuke had displayed a sort of twisted sense of honour in his reluctance to hurt her while she was collared. If the Uchiha clan were anything like the Hyuugas, he would have been raised with strict doctrines about not hurting or bullying those weaker than himself.

And as much as Sakura loathed to admit it, she more than qualified for that category at the moment. With the collar off, it would be a very different story, but as it was...

As it was, in a fight against him, she had about a snowball's chance in hell, as the saying went. Maybe even less.

So, seeing as his own nature probably wouldn't permit him to kill her, and seeing as their interaction was on some very shaky ground, perhaps it was only natural that he reverted back to the way he was used to acting around her. It was the way he was accustomed to responding to her, and in the absence of any other guidelines, that was what he was doing.

Sakura finished her breakfast while she pondered on Sasuke's strange behaviour, but she got no further than her original conclusions. She put it out of her mind as soon as she had finished the last of the fruit, entering the bathroom to snatch up the senbon and resume her attack on the lock.

-xxx-

Sasuke opened the door to his room to find Sakura lounging on the window seat, one hand cradling a cup of water and the other idly tossing something that looked like a small rock up and down.

"Honey, you're home," Sakura drawled.

When Sasuke gave her nothing but a blank look, she rolled her eyes. "Never seen that movie? Guy hacks in the door with an axe and says 'honey, I'm home'? Ringing any bells?"

She could tell by his expression that it wasn't. All was silent in Sasuke's belfry.

"What's that?" he asked, nodding at the object she was tossing.

"The stone from the peach. See those guards watching the window? I'm trying to decide which one to throw it at."

Sasuke gave her another of those looks that seemed to suggest that single-celled lifeforms possessed more intelligence than she did. "That's pointless."

"Yeah, but it will make me feel better." Sakura took aim, and let loose.

The guard tilted his head to the side and allowed the missile to whiz past him – but seeing as he'd had ample time to see the projectile coming, Sakura wasn't really surprised.

"By the way, I broke three of your senbon," she told him as he set his sword down.

Sasuke looked mildly irritated but said nothing.

She hadn't meant to break the senbon – she'd just gotten frustrated, put a little too much force into it as she tried to manipulate the lock...and the senbon had snapped in two. She'd tried again, and after another half an hour or so of pointless struggles, the same thing had happened. When she'd broken the third, Sakura had finally accepted she wasn't getting anywhere.

Sakura was beginning to feel that there was some sort of trigger to the lock. Perhaps it responded to the chakra signature of the man who had put it on, perhaps it needed a jutsu to unlock it...either way, she had a feeling it wasn't going to be coming off her neck anytime soon.

"And I think I may have given you a reputation as a sadist," she went on.

Sasuke's brow furrowed. A sadist? How had she given him a reputation as a sadist?

"I was a little over exuberant in my attempts to force the lock on the collar and ended up cracking my head against the mirror," Sakura said – there was no way she was telling him she'd jumped in surprise. "The woman who brought the water saw it and assumed – and I quote – that you 'were the kind who liked them in pain'. So, deserved or not, most of the slaves probably now consider you a sadist."

"Deserved or not?" Sasuke questioned softly, wondering why she actually seemed to be considering that idea that he might be. He didn't know why it bothered him that she would think that, only that it did.

Sakura snorted. "I won't venture to speculate what Sound turned you into, Sasuke."

"Sound has turned me into nothing," he said harshly. "This place hasn't changed me."

Sakura gave him that same cold, strangely triumphant smile that she'd given him when she'd realised she'd cracked his ribs. "You just keep telling yourself that."

With that, she slid from the window seat and crossed to the bathroom, ready to examine the collar again after her short break to let her mind refresh.

She knew an argument for him to return to Konoha would have been a prime follow-up to that sentence, but she could see in her eyes that nothing she said would have any impact on him. At least, not now. It was better to bide her time and wait for a moment when her arguments might make an impression. If she just harped on about it, he would become accustomed to it and be able to block it out. But if she waited for her moment and struck with every argument and reason she could think of...well, who knew what would happen?

Sakura blew a stray lock of hair from her face in frustration as she stopped in front of the mirror and regarded the innocuous-looking circle of metal and leather that was the bane of her life at present. It would have been nice if she'd discovered that she couldn't pick the lock beforehand, but she hadn't really tried to before now. When she was masquerading as Haru, she had been expected to follow Sasuke night and day, so there had been no spare time to attempt to release herself. And though he'd tolerated her escape attempts at night, she hadn't wanted to push him by deliberately trying to free herself of the collar in his presence.

But now...now that Sasuke knew who she was, she had no doubt he would do absolutely nothing to prevent her escape attempts, however blatant.

She reflected there was something very ironic and bitterly laughable in that – he might have stopped her when she was pretending to be someone else, but now he knew who was with him, he couldn't wait to be rid of her.

-xxx-

The sound of the door closing as Sasuke left for breakfast stirred Sakura from her sleep. She blinked up at the bed's canopy for a few moments, wondering if she should get up.

In the past few days, she'd tried everything she could think of on the collar. She'd tried picking the lock, she'd tried breaking the needle at the base, she'd even tried to use her chakra-enhanced strength on it. Of course, nothing had come of the last attempt – while the collar permitted the slow release of chakra used in healing, it seemed designed to block the quick release of most jutsus and her enhanced strength. She didn't know how, but assumed it was a trait of whatever toxin the collar contained.

So it seemed she would have to escape with the collar on. Her best bet still seemed to be to transform into one of the other slaves, but Sakura wasn't completely blind to the difficulties such a plan entailed. She'd need some guarantee that whoever she was transforming into wasn't going to be anywhere near her escape route – she could only imagine what would happen if some random shinobi walked past one slave, and then a few minutes later, walked past another who looked just like the previous one.

Franky, that scenario had 'disaster' written all over it. She needed to remain undiscovered at least until she went over the village wall.

Funny...she'd had an easier time trying to escape from the underground base than from this village. Though to be fair, when she was in the underground base no one had actually known who she was.

The door creaked open and Sakura turned in the bed, wondering if Sasuke had returned early. But it wasn't Sasuke entering the room. It was Kabuto.

Sakura felt all her muscles tighten like coiled springs as her body was suddenly flooded with adrenaline. She was alone in a room with Kabuto, without a weapon immediately to hand.

This was not going to end well.

Sakura swung her legs to the floor and was upright in the space of a moment, her eyes fixed on Orochimaru's medic, waiting for whatever move he was going to make.

Kabuto gave an oily smirk at her obvious wariness. "I'm just delivering something."

He held a flask – filled with a greenish liquid and stoppered with a cork – out to her, and when she made no move to take it, he set it on the bedside table.

"A contraceptive," he explained smoothly. "I am sure you do not wish to conceive in these...unhappy circumstances."

His eyes seemed to sharpen in that instant, scanning her as though he were a biologist trying to classify a particularly fascinating specimen.

Sakura said nothing, eyeing the flask.

"It is very potent – a mouthful each day will do," Kabuto went on. "Notify me when it begins to run low."

With that, he left as abruptly as he'd entered, shutting the door behind him.

"And how am I meant to notify him, pray tell?" Sakura grumbled, even though she knew Kabuto probably expected her to relay the news via Sasuke or a random slave.

She lifted the flask to the light, swirling it gently, measuring its consistency and transparency. She uncorked it and sniffed at the rim, the scent identifying it as a herb that grew prolifically in Fire Country and that was noted to be capable of preventing pregnancy. At first glance, it seemed to be exactly what Kabuto had claimed it was – a contraceptive.

But something wasn't sitting right with Sakura. If this liquid had been brewed from the herb she thought it had been, it should have been a yellowish colour instead of green.

Telling herself that Kabuto wouldn't poison her so blatantly and that she probably wouldn't have many ill-effects from what amounted to a single drop, she dipped her finger into the concoction and tasted it.

It tasted of peppermint.

Sakura became alarmed. She knew that the contraceptive mixture used by a lot of women in Konoha tasted rather bitter. If this tasted minty...it was because the maker had deliberately added mint to it.

And Kabuto didn't strike Sakura as the type of person who would make a mixture taste pleasant for the comfort of the patient. So, if he made it taste minty, that probably meant he was hiding something. Some discrepancy in the taste that would alert her to the fact that this wasn't just a contraceptive.

It was so obvious it was rather insulting. What kind of medic did they take her for?

So...there was some other drug in the flask. Sakura just didn't know what. There was something tugging at her mind, a vague memory of Tsunade explaining herbs...one that smelled like the contraceptive but didn't look or taste like it...

Realisation slammed into her like a falling boulder just as Sasuke walked into the room.

"What is it?" he asked, glancing at the flask in her hand.

He seemed to ask that an awful lot lately. But then Sakura supposed he had a good reason this time – she could only imagine the expression that was adorning her face as she stared at the innocent-looking liquid.

"Kabuto came in and gave it to me," she said absently.

Sasuke stiffened. Kabuto had been here with Sakura? Alone? He scanned her briefly, searching for any injuries or evidence of misuse, and tried to ignore the feeling of relief that went through him when he found none.

"He said it was a contraceptive," Sakura went on, sounding a little dazed as her mind whirred with possibilities and explanations. "He was lying."

"What is it?" Sasuke repeated, feeling a frisson of unease run along his spine. Was it poison? Had Orochimaru re-thought his decision about Sakura and charged the medic with doing the dirty work?

"It smells like a contraceptive herb," Sakura answered absently. "But the colour, the fact that there's mint in it to cover the taste...I think it's actually another, rather obscure herb. I guess Kabuto assumed I'd go by the smell and didn't know about this herb, considering it doesn't grow in Fire Country."

"So what does it do?" Sasuke asked, irritated at her evasive replies as he strode to the weapon rack.

"If I drank this, it would _increase_ my chances of conceiving, not lessen them."

Sasuke froze for a moment in the act of gathering his kunai as his mind processed that. Orochimaru...wanted Sakura pregnant by him? Was that why he'd allowed him to keep her in his room?

Sasuke didn't need to think hard to guess at the reason for such a desire, either. Orochimaru wanted immortality, so he needed to have another body lined up for possession after Sasuke's. If the Uchiha had a child with Sakura, that would provide him with a future vessel that still possessed the Sharingan.

And if Sakura could pass her phenomenal chakra control to her children...well, Sasuke could certainly see why the sannin would want one as a vessel.

Sakura had apparently reached the same conclusion. "It seems Orochimaru wants a herd of Sharingan at his disposal and apparently, I'm the brood mare."

Considering the anger in her voice, Sasuke was surprised when she lifted the flask to her lips and took a mouthful of it. But when she walked to the bathroom and spat it out, he understood. She was making it look like they were using the contraceptive, in case Kabuto decided to make another impromptu visit.

At that thought, Sasuke frowned. He didn't like the idea that Kabuto had access to Sakura, especially while she was collared.

He had been prepared for one of Orochimaru's spies coming into his room, but he had never expected that the sannin would send the medic. He wouldn't have worried if it had been some random shinobi – they were too intimidated by him to ever risk crossing him, and so would leave Sakura alone for fear of incurring his wrath. But Kabuto was different. Kabuto was dangerous.

And something in Sasuke rebelled at the idea of Sakura being at the medic's nonexistent mercy.

Sakura was rinsing her mouth to wash out every remnant of Kabuto's potion when Sasuke dropped something onto the bathroom counter in front of her. She spat out the water and glanced down at the object – a large silver key.

"Lock the door when I leave," Sasuke said shortly. "Do not let anyone in until you are certain of their intentions."

Sakura reached out for the key, weighing it in her hand, her fingers running over the cool metal. This had certainly come out of the blue. A few days ago, he was warning her not to make him lock her in, and now he was telling her to lock him out?

She resisted the urge to try to release a genjutsu.

But it seemed Sasuke was already regretting his decision – he was staring at the key in her hand with a scowl deeply entrenched on his face.

Sakura was about to say something – she didn't know what, but she wanted to say _something_ – when he turned his back on her and strode out the door, shutting it behind him with a harsh snap.

Left alone, Sakura stared stupidly at the key in her hand for at least a full minute before she went over to the door, inserted the key and turned it once, hearing the lock click into place.

On the other side of the door, Sasuke also heard the tell-tale sound of the lock being thrown, and he continued down the hallway, his scowl settling deeper on his features. He had no idea why he'd waited to hear the lock being engaged, or why the sound had soothed something in him he'd never even known was tense.

All he knew was that the idea of Sakura in his room, collared and vulnerable to whoever walked in the door, had made him unsettled in a way he wasn't used to. While Kabuto was more than capable of kicking in a locked door, Sasuke suspected the man wouldn't risk crossing him so blatantly.

As long as the door was locked, Sakura was under a modicum of protection.

_'I don't care,'_ he thought. _'I gave the key to her on a whim, I don't care about her, I don't care...'_

Somehow, each repetition only made it seem less and less convincing.

-xxx-

"So when you delivered it...how did Sakura seem to you?" Orochimaru asked, yellow eyes sharp and piercing despite his innocuous-sounding question.

"She was wary, but did not seem to have been harmed," Kabuto reported. "That in itself might not be much of a surprise – I doubt Sasuke's predilections run towards deliberately hurting his partner – but she doesn't have the look of a woman who was raped, either, even though she was sleeping in his bed."

Orochimaru said nothing, gesturing for Kabuto to continue with his evaluation.

"I am aware that she used to have a crush on him, so it is possible he may have seduced her." Kabuto smirked a little, obviously disbelieving. "Although after that display when you revealed her, I would have thought nothing but brute force could have brought her to Sasuke's bed."

Orochimaru turned that over in his mind for a moment. He had originally intended to simply turn the Leaf kunoichi over to his interrogators, but then a far better option had presented itself.

He could use her for his own purposes – firstly, to test Sasuke's loyalty. For a long time, Orochimaru had suspected that his future vessel was more attached to his old teammates than he claimed to be. He had been willing to strike them down in their last encounter, true, but Orochimaru paid little attention to that. The act of murder took only a moment, a moment often lost in the adrenaline of battle, and it could be – indeed, sometimes was – regretted afterwards.

But for Sasuke to hold the woman who had once been his teammate prisoner in his room, subjecting her to continued abuse and violation...that would certainly demonstrate that Sasuke had turned his back on Konoha permanently.

In addition, Orochimaru was not blind to the potential for power a child of Sasuke and Sakura would have. He knew that Sasuke could not always be his vessel, he knew he would eventually need another – and what better vessel than Sasuke's child?

And yet, Kabuto's description of Sakura's state was enough to trouble him. He knew she wouldn't have had consensual sex with Sasuke – he doubted the Uchiha could pull off any sort of deliberate seduction, and the girl was much too loyal to her village to bed a traitor this quickly on her own initiative, no matter how close they had once been.

"Perhaps she is not in his bed," Orochimaru mused. "At least, not in the sense that we believed she would be. But why claim her otherwise? Unless our dear Sasuke is growing soft...?"

Kabuto said nothing, but his eyes flashed with malicious intent.

-xxx-

Kabuto stalked down the corridor like a leopard after a gazelle, approaching the door at the end silently, wanting his entrance to be as undetected as possible. He rested his hand on the knob and turned slowly, quietly...only to be met with resistance, an immovable barrier against completing the rotation.

The door was locked.

"Who's there?" came Sakura's voice from within the room, her tone tense and accusing.

A slow, cruel smile adorned Kabuto's face as he slid back down the corridor without a word.

Sasuke never locked his door – he had nothing of exorbitant value in his room, and only a fool would have tried to steal from Orochimaru's apprentice. And yet, the very same morning Kabuto had slipped in to deliver a 'contraceptive' to the solitary Sakura through an open door...the door had been locked shortly afterwards.

Kabuto knew that was no coincidence.

He was unable to hold in the soft chuckle that whispered from his throat. "How interesting..."

-xxx-

"_Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget."_

_-Anonymous_

-xxx-

_AN: Credit for beta-ing goes, as ever, to justcallmefaye!_


	6. Machinations

**Chapter 6**

**Machinations**

"_The cruelest lies are often told in silence."_

_-Robert Louis Stevenson_

-xxx-

Sakura was going through the beginning steps of her kata when she felt a dull, familiar ache begin to radiate from her abdomen.

The medic froze. _'Crap!'_

She was starting her period.

Sakura wasted no time – she mentally flicked through the catalogue of jutsus in her memory, locating the one all kunoichis were taught, the one that could halt menstruation. It was designed to be performed on missions when a period, and all it entailed, would be inconvenient, and Sakura felt this more than qualified. Sure, the actual bleeding could probably be dealt with (and the mental image of Sasuke's face when she asked him for the necessary supplies was almost enough to tempt her into going through with it) but she didn't want even a hint of cramps to interfere with her escape.

Of course, an escape plan was yet to come to her, but she wanted to be ready when it did.

She performed the jutsu, glad it required only a minimum amount of chakra – no more than her transformation, really – and so wouldn't leave her with any ill-effects.

Of course, it might be a bit suspicious that she wasn't having her period (because in all honesty, she wouldn't put it past to Orochimaru to have someone monitoring what went into and out of Sasuke's room), but she suspected the sannin would be more pleased than suspicious. After all, he wanted her pregnant, didn't he?

Sakura was unable to hold in a slight grimace. The idea that Orochimaru and Kabuto were waiting for her to become pregnant by Sasuke was disturbing on so many levels she barely knew where to begin.

In the meantime, she'd keep spitting out Kabuto's mixture. She knew that, since she wasn't having sex, it probably wouldn't hurt her to drink the fertility potion, but she didn't trust anything Kabuto made. Drinking something Kabuto had brewed felt akin to shoving her hand down a tiger's mouth and then slapping it on the nose.

There were bad ideas, and then there were _Bad Ideas_. Willingly swallowing a potion Kabuto had prepared felt like the latter.

"It's me!" came the sudden bark from the other side of the door, and Sakura went to open it, rolling her eyes at Sasuke's brusqueness.

"Did anyone try to get in?" was the first thing out of his mouth when he entered.

"What, no 'hi, how was your day'?" Sakura huffed. "Honestly, Sasuke! You're so focused on your own goals – I don't feel I'm getting what I need out of this relationship."

Her serious, affronted face lasted until the end of sentence, and then Sakura dissolved into giggles.

Sasuke somehow managed to look long-suffering, exasperated and deeply unimpressed all at once.

_'Quite a feat for someone whose face seems to be locked on the 'default' setting,'_ Sakura mused, before speaking again. "Oh, come on, Sasuke, lighten up and have pity on the poor shut-in – I need to get my amusement somewhere!"

"Did anyone try to get in?" he repeated.

"Kabuto...I think," Sakura admitted. "A while after you left, the doorknob jiggled a bit – like someone tried to open it. I asked who was there, but there was nothing, so I put my eye against the keyhole and saw Kabuto walking away. And he said something – it was kinda hard to catch, but it sounded like 'interesting'."

Sasuke processed the implications of her statement in moments. It appeared his decision to have Sakura lock the door had been a good one – offhand, Sasuke couldn't think of any reason for Kabuto seek him out, which meant that his visit would have had something to do with Sakura. Sasuke could think of many reasons that Kabuto could have for intruding on the medic, none of them palatable.

But on the other hand...he had just demonstrated to both Orochimaru and Kabuto that he was willing to put effort into keeping Sakura away from them. If they were in the least suspicious...then Kabuto would be back.

"You have to stop trying to escape," he ordered. If Kabuto would now be keeping a close eye on them...Sasuke didn't want to think about what he would do to Sakura if he caught her trying to escape.

"_What?_" Sakura yelled. "Why the hell should I do that?"

"Just do as I say!" Sasuke hissed, his Sharingan activating automatically as he sought to intimidate her into obedience.

"I don't think so," Sakura said, her voice lowering in volume but losing none of its ferocity and determination. "I'm not like the simpering, pandering idiots you're used to nowadays – it takes more than that to get me to listen to you! I'd like a reason, thanks very much!"

Sasuke gritted his teeth. He couldn't admit the real reason – that sounded too much like caring. And if she thought he was at all concerned about her well-being (only because she was in no shape to see to it herself)...well, he couldn't quite picture what would happen, only that it might involve tears and starry eyes.

And if it didn't...something told him that would be _more_ unsettling.

"This argument is pointless," he ground out.

"Why are you persisting in it, then? Agree with me and I'll shut up."

Sasuke resisted the urge to curse at her and settled for slamming the bathroom door.

Sakura sighed, both amused and infuriated at Sasuke's sudden swing back to icy, expressionless and demanding. He ran hot and cold like faulty plumbing.

Of course, she wasn't about to listen to his irrational demand. She'd just attempt to escape behind his back.

Some part of her wondered why she was being so snarky with him. She'd given him lip when she was Haru, sure...and now it was like she couldn't stop.

-xxx-

Sakura shifted beneath the blankets, trying to turn over as silently as possible and somehow avoid jarring the sleeping body next to her. She stared at Sasuke, moonlight from the window highlighting his form in silver edges, and tried to judge the approximate angle she'd need to perform the nerve pinch at to render him unconscious. After his order earlier that day, she'd decided it would be better to knock him out before she attempted to escape.

Sakura had reasoned that she didn't need to transform into any particular slave – she just needed to transform herself into some random person, retain her slave shift and collar, and walk out. She'd take a kunai, and tell anyone she encountered that she was taking it to the blacksmith's or something.

But she'd have to make sure Sasuke wouldn't try to stop her.

Sakura carefully eyed the spot on his neck she would aim for. She wasn't stupid – she understood she had only one shot at this. If something went wrong, Sasuke would undoubtedly wake up and she knew she didn't have a hope of taking him down while he was conscious and coherent.

The blow had to be fast, strong and accurate.

But even as she raised her hand, Sakura wondered if this was really necessary. Surely she could just slip out...did she have to knock him unconscious? Couldn't she escape without hurting him?

Sakura gritted her teeth, telling herself that such a line of thought was stupid. She needed to escape, and if Sasuke was going to prevent her from escaping...then she had to take him out.

Her hand descended...then ground to a halt in mid-air as Sasuke's own hand rose to close around her wrist. She jerked her gaze to his face to find dark, impenetrable eyes gleaming back at her in the moonlight.

Apparently, Sasuke was awake.

Sasuke had remained completely still when he woke, sensing eyes upon him. When he heard Sakura's breathing – deeper and less regular than that of a sleeping person – he had known who it was. But for several moments, she hadn't moved, and he wondered if she'd simply been unable to sleep.

But then she'd shifted, her diminished chakra had flared so subtly it was almost undetectable...and Sasuke had realised what she was going to do. She was going to try to escape. He'd withdrawn his unspoken assent to her attempts, so she'd simply decided to make those attempts without his knowledge.

For a moment, he'd debated with himself, wondering if he should simply let her go...but then he'd felt a chakra beginning to encroach upon his senses, one that was all-too familiar.

Kabuto.

If Sakura tried to walk out the door now...she'd run straight into the medic. And Sasuke was certain that a transformation wouldn't fool Kabuto this time – he would be on the alert for such a jutsu, and if he caught Sakura...

So as her hand descended towards him, Sasuke seized her wrist to stop her.

He could see her shock written in the widening of her eyes and her sudden, swift intake of breath. Then, apparently determined to go down fighting, her other hand dove for his neck, and Sasuke was forced to catch that one, too.

He didn't want to speak aloud in case Kabuto overheard him (something told Sasuke it would be difficult to explain and still maintain that Sakura was simply a convenient way of scratching an itch), so he settled for flicking his head towards the door in the hopes Sakura would understand his silent message.

She didn't, mainly because she was too busy trying to twist enough to kick him in the head. Even though he'd already been given ample proof of her determination and strength, it still surprised Sasuke – it was strange to think that, in his absence, Sakura seemed to have grown a spine of pure diamond.

He jerked hard on her arms, pulling her across him and flipping them over at the same time, so it was now he who was on top of her. She managed to bring her leg between them and kicked hard, catching him in the hip and nearly throwing him off her.

Some part of his mind had thought there was something wrong with this fight, and it wasn't until this moment that he realised what it was – Sakura was completely silent. She wasn't swearing, snarling, screaming...she hadn't so much as cried out.

She probably didn't want to wake anyone and call attention to her escape attempt. Sasuke was glad for her caution – if Kabuto went as far as listening at the door, all he would hear would be the sound of rustling bedclothes and harsh breathing, giving exactly the impression he wanted the medic to have.

Of course, that did hinge on him being able to subdue Sakura. It would have been effortless if he had been fighting an enemy, but Sasuke somehow couldn't bring himself to use his jutsus or any of the more painful techniques he'd been taught.

Besides, it shouldn't take long for him to wrestle her into stillness.

Sakura bit back a savage curse as she arched her back, trying to knee Sasuke in the groin. Underhanded, yes, but desperate times called for desperate measures. And Sakura _was_ desperate. Without her chakra-enhanced strength, she was at the mercy of the laws of physics...the laws that said taller, heavier, and stronger won out.

_'Stupid testosterone!'_ she thought resentfully. _'An unfair advantage in these situations if there ever was one!'_

Her arms had been pinned on either side of her head, pressed into the mattress (their tussle having sent the pillows tumbling to the floor). Sasuke knocked her attempt to attack his weakest point aside by raising his own leg and preventing her from connecting. In barely the space of a blink, he was straddling her hips, his legs hooking around her own to keep her from kicking at him.

She thrashed – uselessly, she knew, but she needed to do something. Adrenaline lending her strength, she half-turned beneath him, trying to bite into one of his wrists and force him to release her hands. But Sasuke simply dropped his weight forward, resting fully atop her, the side of his face right against her own, her vision clouded by dark strands of hair.

Sakura tried to move, but found she couldn't. She was pinned like a bug on a card, held practically immobile by Sasuke's weight. His legs were locked around her own, leaving her unable to kick him. His hips pressed her own into the mattress, so she couldn't get enough leverage or maneuverability to buck or twist. His chest was practically crushing her torso to the point where it was becoming an effort to breathe, and the presence of his head right beside hers left her blocked and unable to bite the arm she'd been targeting. In fact, the way his chin was digging into her shoulder meant that she couldn't even strain towards her other hand. And his grip on her wrists was so tight she couldn't so much as twist them.

So Sakura was left staring at the ceiling, panting harshly, every muscle in her body knotted as though sheer will could force her limbs to resist Sasuke's hold.

But when nothing happened, Sakura relaxed beneath him, grudgingly accepting defeat. Sasuke was heavier than she was strong (at least with this stupid collar around her neck), and in their current position, continued resistance would only serve to exhaust her.

But she couldn't help wriggling in his hold, her body unconsciously trying to relieve the pressure on it. Sasuke went rigid, but Sakura paid him no heed, still shifting as she sought a position that she could breathe comfortably in.

It seemed that Sasuke had read her mind, because he suddenly lifted himself slightly off her, relieving the crushing weight that was hampering her breathing and putting some space between their bodies.

It wasn't a lot of space, though. Sakura realised that Sasuke's face was now right in front of her own, so close she could feel his breath ghosting against her lips. Hesitantly, she let their eyes lock.

And she could almost feel her body become charged. There was a strange light in Sasuke's eyes that she'd never seen before, and while she had given a non-verbal signal of surrender in their wrestling match he was showing no inclination to move away. His hands were still holding hers captive, his knees were still on either side of her hips, and while he'd relieved most of his weight his body was still so close to hers she could feel the heat radiating off him like a physical pressure.

Sakura tried to ignore the treacherous voice in her head that pointed out she just had to lean her head about a quarter of an inch forward...and their lips would be touching.

The sound of the door opening broke the tense moment like a boulder crashing into a still pond. Sasuke blinked, and Sakura could feel the muscles in his hands jump against her wrist, as though he'd been startled out of something.

Sakura cringed as the light from the hallway sliced into the room, and she turned her face away from the door automatically, clenching her eyes closed.

"Oh, forgive me, Sasuke, I didn't mean to interrupt," Kabuto's smooth voice drifted to her ears.

Sakura did her best not to wince, thinking of what their positions must look like. Sasuke had declined to lock the door during the night, apparently confident that no one would barge in while he was with her. It seemed he'd been mistaken.

"Get out!" Sasuke snarled.

Sakura blinked. There was a barely-detectable quiver in his voice, as though he were straining to hold something back.

Kabuto ignored his outburst. "Lord Orochimaru wants to see you-"

"_Get out!_" If possible, Sasuke sounded even more menacing that time.

And Kabuto seemed to listen, because he retreated hastily, shutting the door and allowing darkness to envelope the room once again.

As soon as the door had closed, Sasuke practically leapt off her like her skin had caught fire. Sakura was left alone on the bed, blinking rapidly as her eyes readjusted to the blackness, while the bathroom light came on and – for some reason – Sasuke seemed to be taking a shower.

Sakura thought about going through with her plan of escape, but then dismissed it. The window wasn't an option (the guards would be sure to catch her), and since Kabuto was probably still stalking the hallways...she'd leave her escape attempt for another day.

So Sakura put the pillows back on the bed, straightened the blankets, and climbed back in, determined to at least try to get some sleep. Unlikely, given what had just transpired – a huge shock adrenaline followed by a healthy dose of...whatever that had been when Sasuke pinned her – but the medic was nothing if not optimistic.

-xxx-

Sasuke did not have a cold shower in an effort to cool the arousal that had gripped him when he was atop Sakura. On the contrary, he turned the water on as hot as he could without melting the flesh from his bones, feeling every drop sting and burn his back in twisted penance.

He'd almost...

No, not almost. He would never have done it. He hadn't even thought about it, not really...

There had just been a cold, insidious hiss in the back of his mind, whispering in a disturbing replica of Orochimaru's voice. Whispering that he could do it. That Sakura stood no chance of fighting him with the collar on. That Sound's general population assumed he'd been making sexual use of her days, so no one would pay attention if cries issued from his room.

The soft, slimy voice had pointed out that he could push that ugly shift up, part those slender legs...and see if the reality compared to the fantasy.

Whether Sakura consented or not.

So Sasuke allowed the heat of the water to raise welts on his back in a kind of self-flagellation for those whispers that had crawled from the darkest corners of his soul.

A part of his mind couldn't help but wonder why he had reacted so strongly to the situation. He'd been forced to pin some kunoichi in that way before, but with Sakura it had seemed...sexual. Perhaps it had been the darkness that had blanketed them in a false sense of intimacy, perhaps it was the fact that they'd been struggling on his bed...

Sasuke refused to consider the possibility that perhaps the reason he had reacted so strongly was simply because it had been _Sakura_ writhing beneath him, panting for breath, every inch of her body pressed hard against his.

He'd lifted himself off her before she could become aware of his body's response...before she could become aware of the dark and twisted path his mind had taken.

The Uchiha gave the hot water tap another twist.

Sasuke knew that rape happened in Sound. It happened in Konoha, come to that...but in Konoha, there were laws against it, punishments for those that perpetrated it...there were no such things in Sound. Many female slaves and some male – even some of the weaker ninja – had endured it at some point in time.

And Sasuke couldn't help wondering why the prospect had never bothered him before Sakura came along. Was he really so blind that such abuse of basic human rights hadn't made an impression on him until he had a face to connect that abuse to? The rape of captives had been a distasteful fact in his mind, never really an injustice to be corrected until he had a hauntingly familiar face to connect to the act.

Many times since he'd staked his claim on Sakura, Sasuke had found himself wondering why he'd done it. Wondering what had driven him to come to her aid, and to continue to try to shield her from Orochimaru's dark intentions.

Why should he care? He would have killed her the last time they'd met...wouldn't he?

Sasuke wasn't so sure anymore. But when she'd been revealed and Orochimaru had ordered his men to take her, Sasuke had known what her fate would be. And some part of him couldn't bear the idea of Sakura suffering like that.

Now, he looked back at the slaves he'd seen who were beholden to one master, usually for sexual purposes, and wondered why he never thought it so abhorrent.

_I won't venture to speculate what Sound turned you into..._

Sakura's words rang in his head, words he had dismissed before, but were beginning to hold an uncomfortable weight of truth.

He had told himself that Sound wouldn't change him, that he could take the power Orochimaru offered without corrupting himself. But now, he could see that had been a foolish idea at best, outright stupid at worst.

And in that moment, some part of Sasuke knew he was done with Sound. Orochimaru had nothing left to teach him, and the place was poisoning him.

It was easier to blame his environment than to think that he was so focused on his own goals and wants he had ignored everything else.

-xxx-

The next morning, neither Kabuto nor Orochimaru mentioned anything about the midnight summons, which Sasuke took as proof that it had probably been an excuse concocted by Kabuto to check on him and Sakura.

This interest in his sex life was fast moving from irritating to truly disturbing.

"We're moving again, Sasuke," the snake sannin informed him. "Tomorrow."

This didn't surprise Sasuke. Orochimaru spent very little time in the actual Sound village – the Uchiha suspected it was too open and exposed for his tastes. Too many avenues of attack for a swift or clever assassin.

"But, of course, we have concerns about traveling with Haruno Sakura," the sannin continued smoothly. "I would suggest that you leave her here, but Kabuto informs me you have recently become most possessive of your little toy."

Sasuke took that to mean they'd assumed the locked door during the day simply meant he didn't want Sakura interfered with. And that was true, though not for the reasons they seemed to suspect.

"So we just need her to travel with one of the slave trains – manacled, of course."

Sasuke shrugged. The small slave trains that transported the exclusives from base to base were always well-guarded, but he wasn't really concerned by that. The vast majority of Sound ninja would be too worried about offending him to risk hassling Sakura, and as for the others...well, if Sakura had managed to kill nearly a dozen elites while collared, Sasuke suspected she could more than deal with the run-of-the-mill types even while shackled.

"Hn."

He left the room at that, dismissing Orochimaru from his mind. He had never really respected the sannin, but now that his mind was made up to leave, and leave soon, there was an extra edge of disinterest to his usual disrespect.

He found Sakura staring out the window, an almost dreamy expression on her face.

"Did you know that guard down there has shouted out seven obscene suggestions and made a total of twelve provocative gestures in the last hour I've been at the window?" she mentioned, obviously staring at the man in question. "I think Orochimaru should really be worried about the IQ scores of this guy."

"Then why are you staring at him like that?" Sasuke muttered waspishly.

"Because I'm in the middle of a very graphic dismemberment fantasy."

"Dismemberment?"

"Yeah. I've gone through evisceration, asphyxiation, exsanguination by various methods, crushing, falling, beheading...hey, let's see if you can think up a mode of death I haven't covered yet."

"This is an infantile game, you realise that?"

"You're only saying that because you can't think of anything."

Sakura grinned at him, having decided to pretend that whatever had gone on with him last night hadn't happened. That was how she'd worked around most of Sasuke's weird behaviour up until now, and she saw no reason to change what worked.

"We're moving again," he said, effectively cutting off their rather one-sided conversation about methods of murder. "And you have to move with the other slaves, in manacles."

Sakura smirked. She had a good idea who had ordered that and why. "My little display made him that nervous, huh?"

Sasuke said nothing, because the only truthful statement that could have come out of his mouth was an agreement.

"And by the way," she went on. "There's one thing I've always wondered about manacles – do they come in sizes, or are they adjustable in the same way handcuffs are?"

-xxx-

Sakura found out that it was a little of both. Apparently, shackles in Sound came in different sizes, but there was some adjustability in them, mainly because they were closed by a lock that could be slotted into one of three holes.

The shinobi tending to her yanked on her manacles after he'd closed them, ensuring they were secure.

Sakura glanced down at the chains festooning her arms and legs, and didn't know whether to be flattered or irritated. They really thought she was going to be _this_ much trouble?

One of the guards barked at the slaves to get moving, and Sakura stepped forward, the chains restricting her to an awkward, shuffling step. She knew she was lagging behind the other slaves, and half-expected a blow for it...but none of the ninjas made a move to strike her. She wondered at it for a moment, but when she tried to look at it from her captor's point of view, she understood.

Having Sasuke stake his claim on her in front of what must have been half the garrison and keep her confined to his room had probably told all of Sound that she was his. The shinobi around her probably envisioned her as having a sign hanging around her neck that read _'Property of Uchiha Sasuke, touch on pain of death by Chidori'_.

It was rather annoying and demeaning to be thought of as property, but if it kept the guards off her back, Sakura could accept it.

-xxx-

"Is it just me, or does Orochimaru have a thing for underground bases?" Sakura mused, looking around at the room she had been led to, automatically healing the welts the manacles had rubbed on her skin.

This room was Sasuke's smallest so far (though still pretty large for a room that had been built underground), and as per usual, was equipped with only the bare necessities.

"Hn."

"That doesn't count as a reply, Sasuke," she hissed, staring morosely at the bare stone walls. "Now I don't even have a window to look out of – what am I supposed to do all day?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. At least now they were in the underground base, he could kill Orochimaru without worrying about interference. In the village, their battle would have drawn a lot of attention, but if he caught the sannin in his room, underground and isolated...then Sasuke was certain they wouldn't be interrupted.

But in the meantime...he had training to do.

One last session...and then he would strike.

-xxx-

"_Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more."_

_-Erica Jong_

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye, my wonderful beta!_


	7. Persuasion

**Chapter 7**

**Persuasion**

_"I haven't stop loving you, it's just my heart has learned to live without your love."_

_-EOL_

-xxx-

Sasuke surveyed the field scattered with fallen shinobi, feeling a sense of grim satisfaction take root in his chest.

"You didn't kill any of them," Orochimaru mused. "You're too soft."

"They aren't the one I want to kill," he said bluntly.

And it was true. Why kill someone in a training exercise? All his attackers were unconscious – he could kill them at his leisure if he chose, so at this point the killing blow meant nothing. It would be pointless.

"If you don't become merciless, you'll never win against Itachi," Orochimaru commented.

Sasuke said nothing, sheathing his sword and making his way towards the entrance to the underground hideout. It was bewildering to think that Orochimaru saw no difference between killing grunts in some stupid training exercise and cutting down the murderer of his family.

The base they were staying at was much smaller than any of the others, and as such training had to take place above ground. Sasuke passed Kabuto on the way in, ignoring the unpleasant smirk on the medic's face.

"You spend less time training than you used to," the man snickered. "But then, I suppose I would, too, if I had Haruno Sakura waiting for me."

Sasuke stiffened, and wrestled with the impulse to turn back and impress upon Kabuto why he shouldn't make such an insinuation again.

But he knew it was true. His training had suffered ever since Sakura had come along – with her new, sarcastic attitude that could get under his skin faster than a parasite.

And Sasuke wasn't pleased by that. This was why he'd left. Sakura – and Naruto, too – could make him forget his vengeance, could make him think of nothing else but their safety and happiness...and that, he simply couldn't afford.

"It's me!" he barked at the solid wood door to his room, and was rewarded with the sound of a turning key before Sakura threw the door open.

"You know, I've got to be honest...I'm not entirely sure this structure is stable," she informed him, glancing pointedly at the walls braced with huge posts of wood.

"It's fine," Sasuke told her as he began to clean his sword.

The ground here _was_ rather unstable – one reason why this was the smallest of Orochimaru's bases – and so the walls had to be braced so they wouldn't crumble. Many rooms were actually made entirely of wood, their walls used to brace the ceiling.

But this base had been designed well, and in all the times he'd stayed in it there had never been so much as a rumble of shifting earth.

Sakura was tapping the walls, looking them over dubiously, when Sasuke spoke, his voice low as though he didn't want to be overheard.

"I'm going to kill Orochimaru."

Sakura started, whipping in a half-circle to face him.

"What?" she hissed, her voice barely a whisper. If anyone outside heard what they were saying...

"I'm going to kill Orochimaru," Sasuke repeated, wiping his sword and testing the edge of the blade. "So do not venture outside this room – do not open the door to anyone under any circumstances – until I return."

With that, he left the room, snatching the key from the bedside table as he did so. He shut the door on Sakura's outraged cry and locked it securely, pocketing the key.

Sasuke felt a flicker of guilt at the fact that Sakura was now unable to unlock the door, but soon squashed it. He was confident he would return – there was no need for a failsafe.

He was stronger than Orochimaru. And he probably couldn't have picked a better time to strike – Orochimaru's body was wearing out, and at the moment all that kept him anywhere approaching healthy was his dependence on Kabuto's medicines. But in a battle, the sannin would be far below his usual level of skill.

He came to a halt just outside Orochimaru's door, measuring the distance between himself and the chakra signature he could sense inside, before sending his lightning blade straight through the wood.

A flare of chakra and the feel of impact reverberating through the blade to his hands told him he'd hit.

"Who's there?" came Orochimaru's snarl from inside the room, and Sasuke smirked.

It was the work of a moment to slice the door to pieces.

There was no real surprise in the sannin's eyes when he stepped through the wreckage, and Sasuke suspected Orochimaru had always known he would never have tamely submitted to having his body taken.

He smirked, feeling the curse seal beginning to creep across his body. He would win – he knew he would!

He was stronger than Orochimaru.

-xxx-

Sakura muttered darkly under her breath about 'arrogant, domineering idiots' as she twisted the senbon within the lock.

She was _not_ staying locked up in this room while Sasuke went off and tried to kill Orochimaru. He was attacking a sannin, for god's sake – had that not crossed his mind? It was hardly a battle to be taken as lightly as he made out.

The tumblers clicked, and Sakura pushed the door open with a triumphant grin.

But now, she was presented with a hallway, stretching off in two directions...and she had no idea which way Sasuke had gone.

_'One day, I'm going to learn to think these things through,'_ Sakura admitted. _'He's probably already attacking Orochimaru by now...'_

Choosing not to examine exactly why she was so keen to stop Sasuke from rushing headlong into what was probably certain death, Sakura simply picked a direction and ran down the corridor, strangely not bothered by the prospect of running into Kabuto or one of the other shinobi.

Adrenaline had a tendency to make pesky things like 'logic' and 'forethought' fly out the window.

-xxx-

Sasuke eyed the white serpent that coiled above him, contempt twisting his mouth. He'd made to stab Orochimaru and put an end to the sannin in a matter of moments...but the snake had emerged from his mouth as Orochimaru took his true form, abandoning the empty shell of a body on the bed.

It seemed that the first body to be subjected to Orochimaru's twisted experiments was his own. The creature couldn't even really be called a snake. It had no true scales – it seemed to be composed of the heads of other snakes. Its face more was human than serpent-like, with a scraggly ruff of black hair atop its head and multiple rows of jagged teeth, more reminiscent of a shark than a reptile.

The snake hissed and dove for him.

Sasuke leapt into the air to avoid Orochimaru's lunge, but the snakes that composed his body suddenly elongated, a pair of them twisting through the air towards him.

He had drawn his sword and decapitated them before he'd even hit the ground.

The sannin made a spitting noise like an enraged snake, and at once the rest of the serpents elongated, a forest of thick, sinuous bodies and needle-like teeth diving towards him. Sasuke sheathed his sword and pulled his arms through his wide sleeves, discarding his shirt and giving his body room to transform.

The snakes cocooned him like lassos...and were torn apart when the cursed seal engulfed his body and thick, taloned wings sprouted from his shoulder blades.

Slowed by surprise, Orochimaru had no time to react before Sasuke had cleaved his body neatly into the three pieces, dark blood splattering across the floor. The serpent choked, spasmed...and fell, lying limp in the pools of crimson fluid.

Sasuke blinked down at the body as the curse seal receded. That was it? Orochimaru must have been at the very end of his endurance, to have been defeated so quickly.

Sasuke took a deep breath...and felt his muscles spasm as though an electrical current had been run through his body. He coughed, dropping to one knee as his muscles continued to jump and quiver like a host of spiders were crawling under his skin.

And worse still...he was slowly losing sensation in his fingers and toes.

The supposedly-dead snake twisted, its head rising to loom over him once more. "The body fluids of these white snakes contain a numbing poison that vapourises when exposed to the air."

The snake's mouth was opening, revealing dark red gums and tongue...but the throat was a black hole, a yawning chasm of nothingness.

"I cannot be destroyed," Orochimaru hissed. "Your jutsus are nothing against me. Your body is mine...I wonder, will your sweet little Sakura be able to tell the difference?"

Sasuke set his jaw, staring the snake down. Strangely, he didn't even feel so much as a prickle of fear – he knew he was safe. If this was to be a mental battle...then Orochimaru had no hope. Whatever tricks he tried to use to consume him, the Sharingan would destroy.

-xxx-

Sakura swore when she reached an intersection of hallways. Three tunnels loomed before her...and she didn't have the foggiest idea which one she should take. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and spun around in a circle several times (hoping she wouldn't smack into one of the walls) before taking one step forward and opening her eyes.

Her foot was pointing down the left corridor, so that was the one Sakura took.

-xxx-

Wherever Sasuke was, it was very dark. He couldn't see more than few feet in front of him, and the ground seemed to be made of a spongy, almost flesh-like substance.

It was, he realised, rather like he had been swallowed alive.

What the hell was this place?

"This is an alternate dimension within me..." came Orochimaru's voice from behind him.

Sasuke whirled around. A portion of the strange fleshy ground was sprouting upwards, part of the twisted mass cracking open to reveal Orochimaru's face.

"This is where I hold the ritual of the soul transfer," he hissed, his grotesque tongue lolling from his mouth.

Instantly, Sasuke found the same tissue-like coils the sannin had arisen from wrapping about his own body, and he understood that they – in some way – represented Orochimaru's soul, trying to subsume his own.

But the heart of the transfer was a genjutsu, an illusion that fooled the mind and lulled into a state of hopelessness, of fear...of weakness.

And no genjutsu had ever withstood the Sharingan.

As the mass that was Orochimaru lumbered towards him, Sasuke worked his own will on the world around him, warping and twisting it until it had become not a haven for Orochimaru, but a weapon against him. He saw realisation widen the sannin's eyes as the coils that were meant to engulf the Uchiha began to engulf him instead.

And Sasuke knew he'd won.

-xxx-

Fortunately, it seemed like Sakura had picked the right direction, because as she continued down the twisting, turning corridor she could feel the air become heavy, a slight tang of electricity in the air, as though two large chakras had recently been in outright contest.

Was she too late?

Sakura saw the blood stains arcing across the floor, and homed in on the room they seemed to have come from.

"Sasuke, you're-_whoa!_" Sakura cut herself off as she caught sight of the gigantic white snake laid out on the ground. "What's that?"

Sasuke turned to her, his face stony. "I thought I told you not to leave the room!"

"Yeah, and my grandmother told me not to be ninja," she tossed back automatically. "Again – what's that?"

Upon closer inspection, she realised that the snake's scales actually seemed to be composed of the heads of smaller snakes. And that the reptile had a human-like, chillingly familiar face.

Instead of answering, Sasuke took her arm and practically dragged her from the room.

"Hey, what do you-"

"Numbing poison," he said shortly. "In the air."

"Oh."

It seemed Sasuke was playing the role of heartless jerk again. Honestly, his mood swings came faster than Ino's during 'that time of the month'.

Sakura was startled to realise Kabuto was directly outside the room. Had he only just arrived, or had she not noticed him before?

The medic was staring at Sasuke as though he had never seen him before. Sakura slowed in puzzlement as they passed him, but Sasuke's hand on her upper arm compelled her to pick up her pace again.

"Which one are you?" she heard Kabuto ask.

Sasuke stopped, half-turning towards the older man. Sakura, too, went still – she hadn't considered that idea. Strangely, the very real possibility that the man holding her was not Sasuke, but Orochimaru in Sasuke's body, had not crossed her mind.

Sure, he'd mentioned that he'd told her to stay in her room, but for all she knew Orochimaru gained his vessel's memories whenever he transferred. Frankly, the idea that it could be Orochimaru's hand on her arm gave Sakura a sudden desire to wash the limb several times over.

"Who do you think?" Sasuke said, the faintest hint of a smirk playing on his lips.

Kabuto went stiff for a moment, and Sakura tensed. If this really was Orochimaru...

"Orochimaru is dead..." Kabuto said faintly, blinking hard and looking pale enough for Sakura to wonder if Sasuke had used a momentary genjutsu on him. "But no...this is..."

"I took him over," Sasuke smirked.

Then he walked on, pulling Sakura after him and apparently dismissing Kabuto.

"You did?" Sakura gaped. "So that...thing...was Orochimaru? And here I thought that whole snake-man look was just because of his freaky eyes and tongue."

"Apparently not," Sasuke said shortly.

"So...Orochimaru isn't a problem anymore?"

Sasuke nodded.

And Sakura sensed that this was her moment.

"So...you'll be coming back to Konoha, then?"

Sasuke's eyes were very hard and cold when he turned back to her. "No."

Sakura gritted her teeth against the urge to slap some sense into him. She had to be calm and rational about this. _'Make nice, Sakura, make nice...'_

"Why not?"

"I would have thought that was obvious. We are on different paths, Sakura – we have nothing to do with each other now."

_'And yet, you are the one dragging me down the corridor,' _she thought mutinously.

"Sasuke...looking at this logically, you have a better chance of finding – and thereby, eliminating – Itachi if you stay in Konoha. Itachi is after Naruto; we're bound to encounter him again sooner or later."

"No."

"...are you that pig-headed, or just that stupid?"

_'That degenerated quickly,'_ she mused. _'What happened to making nice?'_

Sasuke glared at her, but Sakura wasn't deterred in the slightest.

"You may think you've broken your bonds or whatever crap you keep telling yourself, but Naruto and I are not going to give up on you," she hissed, low, savage and determined.

"And that's why you're weak!" Sasuke snarled, spinning around and pinning her against the wall, his hands pressing her arms back against the rough stone. "That's why I had to leave!"

"Really?" Sakura spat. "I suppose that makes sense...if you totally overlook the fact that Naruto's become just as strong as you have by staying in Konoha!"

"He's weak!" Sasuke hissed, some part of him wondering why Sakura could rile him like no one else. If anyone else had said something like that, he would have ignored them...but with Sakura, he could practically feel his apathetic mask cracking, giving way to fury.

"Why, because you could beat him the last time you met? That's only because Naruto has too much of a kind heart to ever really try to fight you. If he ever went all out against you, he'd kick your ass!" Sakura shrieked.

The 'making nice' plan seemed to have left in the dust. But truthfully, Sakura didn't feel like making nice anymore because it was feeling so good to finally air these wounds.

"And do you know why?" she went on, lowering her volume a touch so she could be sure he heard every word. "Because he knows the real secret to power, and that's to seek it for other's sake, not your own! He fights for the people he loves and doesn't hide behind a stupid, hateful goal or use his childhood trauma as an excuse!"

Sasuke experienced such an extreme of fury that his vision actually went white, the whole world obscured by the force of his rage. When he could see again, his fingers were gripping Sakura's arms so tightly he'd actually lifted her off the floor.

But Sakura didn't seem intimidated in the least by his display. Her face was twisted into a snarl like that of a vengeful tigress, and her own hands were wrapped around his biceps, her blunt nails digging into his skin.

Sasuke had the feeling she was only strangling his arms because she hadn't been able to reach his neck.

With a small thrill of horror, Sasuke realised he had come dangerously close to losing all control. Of letting his emotions get the better of him. Even though he had spent over two years steadily repressing and harnessing them, trying to ensure they would not intrude on his mind and cloud his thoughts...it took barely two minutes of conversation with Sakura for him to regress back to the hot-headed blindness he had worked so hard to stamp out.

He lowered her back to the floor abruptly, his grip on her relaxing...but he did not release her entirely.

Sakura could almost see a shutter slide over Sasuke's face, locking himself away from her once again.

Sakura watched, and some part of her despaired. When his face had twisted and he'd lifted her off the ground like that, she'd seen it as encouragement – proof that she was actually getting through to him.

But now...there was nothing.

Sakura ground her teeth together until her jaw ached. Her eyes stung sharply, but she refused to cry – she had shed enough tears over Sasuke.

He wasn't going to listen to her – nothing she said would work. For now, at least, Sasuke was too blindly focused on killing Itachi to even consider returning to Konoha.

Better to leave him now, quit her captivity and return home. Naruto, Kakashi, Ino, Tsunade...they had to be out of their minds with worry by now. Even the emotionally-fumbling Sai would be concerned.

"So, that being said, I'll go back to Konoha now," she muttered, trying to move past him, expecting his hands to slip off her arms...

But his grip simply tightened once more. "No."

Sakura stared at him. Of all the responses she had expected, Sasuke's flat refusal to let her go hadn't been among them.

Sasuke didn't like what he was doing. The little display barely a minute ago had proved that having Sakura around damaged his prized self-control...but there was no other course of action.

While the collar remained on, Sakura remained vulnerable. Perhaps she would remain safe and unmolested as she journeyed back to Konoha...and perhaps she wouldn't.

He knew nothing about the mechanisms involved in the collar, so he couldn't remove it himself (he probably should have forced Kabuto to remove it before the medic had scampered off to...wherever he had run to). The needle was positioned dangerously close to the spinal column – if he attempted to remove it without knowing exactly what he was doing, he ran the risk of crippling or killing her.

He couldn't leave her, and he couldn't return to Konoha, not while Itachi was still alive...

So that left only one option.

"You're coming with me," he said shortly, and resumed hauling her down the corridor.

"_WHAT?_" Sasuke winced as Sakura's voice reached uncomfortable decibels. "No way!"

He paid no attention to her protests – couldn't she see this was for her own good? – and simply continued muscling her along.

He'd gotten perhaps ten feet before he began to feel the strain. Dragging Sakura wasn't as easy as he'd anticipated; muscle was heavier than fat, which meant Sakura had more weight to her frame than her slender build would suggest. And of course, seeing as she was a kunoichi, the muscles in question were toned and well-used, and could put a lot of force into resisting him.

"Sakura," he said eventually, swinging her around to stand in front of him. "You are coming with me, like it or not. I would prefer not to have to knock you out and carry you around as a dead weight, but I will do it if you continue to resist me."

Sakura gave him a glare that he could almost feel scorching the hems of his clothing. But she relaxed in his grip, muttering a grudging assent.

Sasuke nodded once in approval, and made for the lower levels, Sakura trailing behind him.

His ears were sharp enough to catch her hiss of, "What happened to being on different paths and having nothing to do with each other?"

Sasuke could hear the bitterness in Sakura's voice, but dismissed it. Eventually, she would realise this was for her own good. He may not feel much companionship for her, but he had no choice – he couldn't let her wander helpless in the wilderness, at the mercy of any halfway-talented enemy who stumbled across her.

And yet, while Sasuke justified his decision to himself, he never once thought about the dozen elites Sakura had felled while collared.

-xxx-

Sakura stared at the tall glass columns surrounding her and Sasuke, confused and not quite sure what to make of them. They seemed to be filled with nothing but water, yet they had all sorts of wires and cables attached to them.

And more importantly, what did Sasuke want with them?

Sakura shook her head, some part of her mind still dazed and reeling from Sasuke's abrupt declaration that she would be coming with him. She still had no idea why he'd done it – just when she'd decided to leave him be...he suddenly said she would be attached to his side for the foreseeable future?

Sakura was convinced that she had either inherited her mentor's abysmal luck, or that the whole karma and reincarnation thing was true and she was making up for having been some sort of evil, sadistic mastermind in her past life.

She hung back, walking a little behind Sasuke as he strode through the containers, finally stopping in front of one. Sakura couldn't see any distinguishing marks on it, but Sasuke seemed to know what he was doing.

"So, it's you," came a foreign, male voice. A voice that seemed to be coming from inside the container – from the water itself. "You defeated Orochimaru, then..."

_'Holy crap, it talks!'_ was all Sakura's brain was capable of spitting out as she realised that no, her senses were not playing tricks on her, and yes, the water was actually speaking.

"Yeah," Sasuke smirked, the barest touch of arrogance in his voice. "More importantly, I'm going to let you out of there."

His sword flashed, splitting the glass and letting water rush out onto the floor. Sakura watched silently, wondering if this intelligent water was a product of Orochimaru's experiments. Why else would Sasuke be setting it free?

She noted that the water didn't seem to be behaving as normal water should. The edges of the enormous puddle pulsed, ripples spreading through the liquid as a man's head and shoulders rose from it.

"Suigetsu, you're the first," Sasuke said. "Come with me."

"Me first?" the man – Suigetsu, Sakura assumed – questioned. "So there'll be others...?"

Sakura stared with blatant medical fascination as she watched the naked figure of a man slowly form from the water.

"There's something you don't see every day," she muttered to herself.

The white-haired man glanced at her, his attention obviously arrested when she spoke. "Who's the hot chick – your girlfriend?"

Sakura snorted derisively as she scratched at her collar.

"Ah, got one of those collars on, eh?" Suigetsu noted, looking her up and down avidly. "Pleasure slave, then?"

Sasuke found himself irritated by Suigetsu's blatant appraisal of Sakura. "She's not your concern."

"Just finding out who I'm traveling with," Suigetsu shrugged.

"Yeah, well, if it was up to me, I wouldn't be traveling with you at all," Sakura grumped, eyeing the tanks of water around them. Did they all contain beings like Suigetsu?

"Ooh, she's feisty!" Suigetsu grinned, showing a row of sharp teeth that Sakura found rather shark-like in nature. "If you don't want to do her, Sasuke, I'll take her!"

It might have been Sakura's imagination, but she thought Sasuke's expression became a little more severe at that.

"There are two others. I'll be taking Juugo from the Northern headquarters and Karin from the Southern headquarters," the Uchiha continued, ignoring Suigetsu's comment.

Sakura was a little confused at the mention of others, but she didn't want to ask. The sooner she got back to Konoha the better, and the less she knew about Sasuke's plans, the more likely he would be to let her go.

Of course, considering how insistent he'd been – he had threatened to knock her out to bring her with him – Sakura didn't hold out much hope of that happening.

"Your choice of teammates is crazy, Sasuke," Suigetsu said bluntly. Then his eyes wandered to Sakura once more, and he amended, "Well...maybe not that crazy..."

Sakura's eyes narrowed as he reached toward her, his fingers curving as though to stroke her cheek. She was far from full strength, but she knew a few moves that could certainly break a bone or two...

"Suigetsu!" Sasuke snapped, his indifferent demeanor turning harsh and commanding. "Any hand that touches her I will remove at the wrist."

Both Sakura and Suigetsu turned to him, Sakura startled at his intervention and Suigetsu looking annoyed. But Sasuke didn't allow so much as a flicker to cross his face. He had never heard of Suigetsu raping anyone, but with the collar on, Sakura was in a very vulnerable position. He had to make sure Suigetsu understood that she wasn't to be touched.

"You're acting rather high and mighty," the white-haired man drawled.

"When isn't he?" Sakura muttered.

The medic didn't even see Suigetsu move. One moment, he was directly in front of her, and the next, he was right behind Sasuke, his index finger pressing against the Uchiha's head in a blatant threat.

Sakura tensed automatically. While she wasn't particularly fond of Sasuke at this point in time, she had no desire to see him killed!

"Let's get a few things straight, okay?" Suigetsu drawled. "You're not in charge just because you took Orochimaru down. Everyone was after him – someone was bound to kill him eventually...you just had more chances than the rest of us."

"What's your point?" Sasuke asked, sounding bored.

"That I've got the upper hand now," Suigetsu grinned. "I can sense your little chickadee is tougher than your usual brand of slaves, but with that collar on, she's not going to be able to do anything to help you."

The tableau dragged on for long, charged moments as Sakura wondered if there was anything she should do, anything she _could_ do. She mentally cursed the inanimate chunk of metal and leather around her throat to eternal damnation.

But then the tension was broken as Suigetsu lifted his finger away from Sasuke's head. "Just kidding!"

Sakura relaxed, but only by a fraction.

"I've heard rumours about your strength from way back," Suigetsu continued. "Your team was the one who defeated the great Momochi Zabuza, right? In fact-" he suddenly swung to face Sakura again, "If memory serves me correctly, there was a pink-haired girl mentioned...Haruno Sakura, right?"

"Congratulations," Sakura deadpanned. "You've show the associative abilities of a chimpanzee."

Suigetsu laughed, his gaze running over her once again. "You're a real firecracker, aren't you? Enough spirit for someone three times your size."

He mock-pouted at Sasuke. "Sure you won't share her?"

Sasuke's expression shifted to a glare more savage than any Sakura had seen before.

"Okay, okay..." Suigetsu held up his hands in a mollifying position. "I get it, I get it – she's off-limits!"

"'She' is right here!" Sakura growled. "And 'she' does not appreciate being discussed like a piece of meat!"

Suigetsu chuckled, but apparently decided to drop the line of conversation, because he turned back to Sasuke. "I'll go with you. But before we get the others, can we take a quick detour? There's somewhere I need to go."

Sasuke shrugged, and Sakura took that to mean that he didn't care.

"Well, considering that four-man teams are best," Sakura began slowly, edging towards the exit. "I'll just be on my way, now..."

Sasuke was in front of her so quickly she didn't even see him move.

"I hate it when you do that," she hissed.

"Don't make me force you, Sakura," Sasuke said levelly.

Suigetsu watched with interest. When Sakura had begun to move towards the exit, he had expected Sasuke to at least knock her to the floor to impress his authority upon her. But he hadn't, choosing to block her route in a way that was certainly domineering, but that was hardly threatening. And when he told her not to make him force her, Suigetsu was startled to realise that Sasuke seemed to truly mean it. He honestly didn't want to hurt the woman in front of him.

Suigetsu had no idea who she was, but one thing was very clear; in Sasuke's world, this woman had been given a different set of rules than the rest of them.

Green eyes flashed, Sakura's fists clenched, and she spun on her heel, her expression brimming with anger and frustration.

"You really are being held against your will, aren't you?" Suigetsu mused.

"Yeah," she spat, glaring at him. "Took you that long to catch on?"

He looked at her, noting the complete lack of any sort of discomfiture. "I can understand Sasuke's non-reaction, but you seem pretty unconcerned about having a naked man in front of you. You're not even blushing."

"I've trained as a medic-nin," she explained shortly. "Naked male bodies are hardly new to me."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and he felt a flash of something close to jealousy.

"If you say so, Princess," Suigetsu smirked.

One pale pink eyebrow rose slowly. "Princess?"

Suigetsu's smirk deepened, and he went looking for his clothes without further comment.

He chose not to point out that the title of 'princess' did seem to fit. The exotic pink hair, the fiery spirit, and the fact that Sasuke was treating her with more care than he'd ever believed the Uchiha capable of showing made her seem like some sort of fairytale maiden.

Not that he'd be telling her or Sasuke that.

-xxx-

"_We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears."_

_-François de la Rochefoucauld_

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye for beta-ing this. _

_As I'm sure most people have realised, this story will be very heavily based on manga events, but exploring how Sakura's presence might alter these scenarios. I'm going to be using a lot of scenes and quotes from the manga because I'm trying to write this story in such a way that you don't have to read the manga to understand it. A bit of a tall order, perhaps, but we'll see how I do..._


	8. Pangs

**Chapter 8**

**Pangs**

"_Jealousy is that pain which a man feels from the apprehension that he is not equally beloved by the person whom he entirely loves."_

_-Joseph Addison _

-xxx-

"So...what's your story?" Suigetsu asked.

Sakura glanced at him. "What story?"

"The..." Suigetsu made a vague motion towards his neck. "How'd you get saddled with that?"

"An altruistic impulse outweighed my self-preservation instincts."

"Really?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I was really low on chakra, and stumbled across a group of travelers being taken as slaves by Sound. I fought with the shinobi rather than slink silently past...and here I am. Being dragged up hill and down dale by a jerk."

"You're not fond of Sasuke, are you?"

"Not at the moment, no."

Suigetsu smirked. "So...you're a medic, huh?"

"Yeah, but my abilities are kinda limited with the collar on." Sakura ran a finger across the metal lock for emphasis.

"But they're still pretty top-notch, right? I mean, Sasuke must have a good reason for bringing you along."

"Well, if he happens to let it slip, could you tell me what it is?"

Sasuke listened to the conversation in front of him with only half an ear. Sakura had remained silent all throughout their journey out of Sound, seeming to disdain walking with either him or Suigetsu, and instead planted herself in the middle, striding along between them and occasionally muttering darkly under her breath.

Eventually, Suigetsu had slid back and tried to engage her in conversation. His first attempts had been rebuffed rather rudely, but as he persisted, Sakura's frosty attitude had gradually softened. It was obvious she was still a little wary of the white-haired man, but she was now talking easily with him.

Sasuke told himself he wasn't envious.

"Ah, cheer up, Princess," Suigetsu grinned, feeling tempted to give her a hearty pat on the back but wary of giving Sasuke reason to enact his threat. "It could be worse."

Sakura gave a rather inelegant snort. "True. That's the depressing thing about life – it can always get worse."

Suigetsu chuckled again and in spite of herself, Sakura found herself feeling a certain liking for him. He was vicious and crude, yes, but his daring grin and devil-may-care attitude reminded her of Naruto, in a way.

Plus, it was nice to talk to someone who possessed actual conversational skills.

"So...where are we going, out of curiosity?" she asked.

"Zabuza's grave," Suigetsu explained. "I want the sword."

Sakura blinked, casting her mind back and trying to remember if there had been anything particularly unusual about Zabuza's sword...besides its size, of course.

She watched Suigetsu take a long draught from the water bottle he carried at his hip, and her medical mind took over.

"Do you drink so frequently because you have to keep your fluid levels up?"

"Bingo, Princess," he grinned. "You're a clever one, aren't you?"

Sakura shrugged, blinking as they emerged from the trees and she found herself facing the Great Naruto Bridge. She felt a nostalgic smile curl her lips and, when she risked a glance at Sasuke, she was startled to see him staring at the sign as well, his expression almost...fond.

"What's up with you two?" Suigetsu asked, taking another swig of water.

"It's nothing," Sasuke said. "Let's go."

Sakura trailed behind the two males as they crossed the Naruto bridge, glancing down at the water that frothed and surged below them. For a civilian, it would have been suicide to attempt to swim it, but for a ninja...

A ninja probably had a very good chance of reaching land. If she just jumped off the side and struck out, staying underwater for as long as possible...

"Don't even think about it," Sasuke snapped, grabbing her arm just above the elbow and guiding her back to the middle of the bridge.

"I was just looking at the water!" she protested.

Sasuke said nothing, but Suigetsu chuckled. "Come on, Princess, even I wouldn't be taken in by that one."

"Screw you, water boy," Sakura groused.

Suigetsu only laughed harder. "Anytime, Princess. Just not where your boyfriend might find us – he seems like the jealous type."

Sakura rolled her eyes and Sasuke glared savagely at the other man.

Still, Sakura thought it was interesting to note that he didn't release her arm until they had finished crossing the bridge.

-xxx-

"There it is," Sasuke said, nodding at the graves Team 7 had erected all those years ago.

Suigetsu grinned, wrapping his fingers around the handle of the gigantic blade eagerly. He pulled it from the ground, hefting it in his hands as though to test the weight of the sword. "It's pretty heavy..."

"You think?" Sakura quipped sarcastically. "Wonder why?"

"Ouch, Princess, put that sharp tongue away before you cut yourself," Suigetsu smirked, letting the sword rest on the ground once more.

Sakura noticed the slight trembling of his muscles as he lowered it. "No offense intended to the man with the big sword, but do you think you can actually wield that thing?"

"The blades of the Seven Mist Swordsmen are passed down from generation to generation. I trained so I could join them someday," Suigetsu narrated, fastening a thick leather strap around the blade.

"You didn't actually answer my question," Sakura pointed out.

"Don't worry about me, Princess. I'll handle this thing just fine."

Sakura shrugged, watching as Suigetsu used the strap to secure the sword to his back.

"Alright, let's head off," he said at last. "The closest one first, right?"

"Um...guys?" Sakura tried, pointing to where the sun was beginning to sink towards the horizon. "Unless this person is within a mile or so of here, we're going to be traveling in the dark."

"So we'll stay at an inn somewhere first," Suigetsu shrugged. "You got any cash, Sasuke?"

Sakura knew he had. Before they had gone to find Suigetsu, Sasuke had collected a lot of money from Sound's treasury.

"He's got money," she said shortly. "Let's go find somewhere nice."

-xxx-

"So...are we going to get three rooms, are you going to be miserly and only get one?" Suigetsu asked.

"We will get two rooms," Sasuke told them.

"What, one for us and another for Princess?"

For a moment, Sakura dared to hope that she might be able to slip out and away in the dead of night. But those hopes were dashed by Sasuke's reply.

"No – one room is for you, the other will be mine and Sakura's."

Sakura bit her lip against the urge to shriek 'why?' She knew why – Sasuke had anticipated her, and so moved to veto her escape attempt before it had even begun.

"I knew you were doing her," Suigetsu muttered, his voice low.

Sasuke shot him a quelling look, and Sakura pretended she hadn't heard him.

-xxx-

Sakura turned on the shower, letting the warm water rush over her skin with a sigh of relief. It had been difficult to smile politely at the concierge as Sasuke ushered her into the hotel, when all she'd really wanted to do was scream for him to alert Konoha.

But the man was a civilian – everyone here was a civilian, and she wasn't going to put their lives and health on the line by getting them mixed up in ninja matters.

What was worse, the room Sasuke had bought for them had a double bed – she suspected the hotel employees were operating under the delusion they were lovers. But Sakura was determined that they would not be sharing that bed – she'd had enough of that in Sound, thank you very much, and would prefer to use the couch.

Sakura wrapped the towel around herself as she stepped out of the shower, taking the opportunity provided by the tall mirror to examine her collar again. She knew there was probably no way for her to remove it, but she couldn't resist checking it at every chance she had, just in case inspiration struck her.

She felt like one of those kids who asked if it was Christmas yet every day as soon as December rolled around.

But the more she examined, prodded, picked at or just tried to force the collar, the more she became convinced it couldn't be removed by any ordinary means. She was certain there was some sort of trick to it – there had to be, Sakura refused to think about the possibility that the collar might never come off, that it was designed to be worn until death.

If she got back to Konoha, Tsunade would surely figure out a way to get the damn thing off her...but she had to get away from Sasuke first.

The medic couldn't help but wonder exactly what the collar allowed her to do. She couldn't sense chakra anymore, but could she still affect her own? Raise it and lower it at will?

She tried to spike her chakra, a technique shinobi often used to deliberately attract the attention of other ninja. But nothing happened. She couldn't feel the slightest shift in her chakra levels. Of course, the collar only allowed her a small amount, and it was conceivable that anything above that level was simply cut off.

So Sakura tried to suppress her chakra instead, in the same way she'd hide from detection during a stealth mission. And she felt it work – her own chakra dampened beneath her will, muffling her presence.

Sakura barely had time to grin at herself in the mirror before the door to the bathroom was thrown open and Sasuke blew in like a hurricane.

Sakura yelped and spun around, painfully aware that she was covered by nothing but thin terrycloth. "_What the hell are you doing?_"

Sasuke blinked, stared at her for a moment in complete silence (was she imagining the way his eyes seemed to widen?)...and then left the bathroom, shutting the door behind him with a harsh slam.

Sakura stared at the door, completely dumbfounded. What had just happened?

"Hey!" she yelled through the door. "What was that all about?"

"Do not suppress your chakra again," came Sasuke's voice from their room, sounding slightly strained.

Sakura finally understood. When her chakra had winked out in the bathroom, Sasuke had probably assumed she'd done some sort of teleportation jutsu (which would have been a good idea if she'd hadn't been wearing the stupid collar!) and had charged into the room, thinking she was escaping.

And instead, he'd gotten an eyeful. Sakura found herself grateful she'd at least been wearing the towel. How embarrassing would it have been if Sasuke had walked in while she was naked?

She dressed hastily, grimacing as she tugged on the ugly brown shift, telling herself that she really needed some new clothes. She would love to have heard what lie Sasuke had concocted to explain her apparel to the people at the reception.

Forget her attire – she'd love to know what they thought the collar was. Maybe they assumed she was making some kind of bizarre fashion statement?

She stepped out of the bathroom, trying not to giggle when she noticed that Sasuke was pointedly looking anywhere but at her. Sakura seized the pillows from one half of the bed and tossed them on the couch, arranging them neatly at one end.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked as she dug a spare blanket out of the closet.

"I am not sleeping in that bed with you," Sakura said bluntly. "I mean, now that we don't have to fool a pair of sadists into thinking that we're screwing each other, there's no point."

Sasuke's eyebrows lowered, and he tried not to think about the fact that he was feeling almost hurt by her statement.

The door clicked open, and Suigetsu strode in.

"Why are you here?" Sasuke snapped, irritated.

"I was bored," he shrugged, then noticed Sakura setting up her makeshift bed on the couch. "You made Princess take the sofa?"

"No, _I_ decided I would take the sofa," Sakura corrected.

"So you _aren't_ doing her?" This was addressed to Sasuke.

"_NO!_" Sakura exploded, her tension boiling over. "I am not his wife, or his girlfriend, or his lover or his 'pleasure slave' – we are not screwing each other, we are not fondling, we are not kissing, we are not doing _anything_ remotely sexual!"

"Yeesh, I'm sorry I asked."

Sakura forced her hands to relax from the fists they'd become, hoping her righteous anger would cool.

Suigetsu, meanwhile, had turned back to Sasuke. "So, you're not making a move on Princess...does that mean you really _are_ gay? Because I kinda wondered..."

Sakura couldn't help it. She burst into laughter – real, deep, full-belly laughter. She clutched her stomach as the force of her wheezes almost doubled her over. She risked a glance towards Sasuke...only to have the expression on his face send her into another fit of hysterical guffaws.

"You're pretty cheerful, aren't you?" Suigetsu pointed out.

"For a kidnap victim, I suppose I am."

"...you really don't want to be here, do you?"

"What was your first clue?" she growled.

Sasuke was surprised at the flash of hurt that snaked through him. Once, she would have been happy to follow him...

He didn't know why, but something drove him to remind her of it. "I distinctly recall you offering you to come with me once."

Sakura stiffened. "Maybe so, but I was a barely-pubescent girl who had deluded herself into believing there was some good in you. I don't think anything I said that night can be taken seriously."

She was lying, of course – there was one part of that confession (more than a little embarrassing, in retrospect) that she had truly meant. And still meant, to her regret.

_I love you..._

"So it was a lie?" Sasuke asked quietly, and there was something in his eyes that told Sakura he wasn't talking about her vow to help him.

She forced her lips into a smirk and turned her back on him, effectively dismissing their conversation. She didn't trust her abilities as an actor that far, not if she was looking him in the face.

"Well...maybe not at the time, but they'd certainly be a lie now!"

And maybe if she kept telling herself that, she'd believe it one day.

"Now..." Sakura shook her head. "Now...I'd never be here with you willingly."

"But you are here nonetheless," Sasuke said, his voice harsh. "And you'll remain with me until I say otherwise."

Suigetsu simply watched them, musing on the fact that the first image that came to mind was that of a wave breaking against a rock. Sakura was the wave, gathering force and power, smashing itself against the hard rock that was Sasuke and being broken to pieces, left to withdraw and try again.

At first glance, it looked like the rock had won. But Suigetsu knew better. Little by little, each wave wore the rock away, while the wave remained unchanged. In the end, it was the rock that yielded, not the waves.

Something told him this was the same. Sasuke might be standing strong against Sakura at the moment, but it was only a matter of time before that changed.

Sasuke watched Sakura continue to arrange her bed, not paying any attention to him or making any effort to continue the conversation...and felt strangely lost. It was a shock to realise that Sakura's feelings for him had been almost a comfort – after all, if Sakura could love him, there had to be something good in him, right?

But now she was saying she didn't anymore. That anything she might have felt for him was long-dead.

And he was bizarrely, irrationally angry. Wasn't this what he'd wanted – for her to forget about him?

Then why did the reality of it make him want to tear something to pieces?

-xxx-

Sakura tossed and turned on the couch, unable to get to sleep. It wasn't that her bed was uncomfortable; on the contrary, the couch was quite nice – soft but firm enough so she wasn't swallowed by it – but her semi-argument with Sasuke kept reeling through her head.

She refused to admit she felt a little guilty. For god's sake, the man had practically gloated about holding her prisoner – she was _not_ going to feel guilty about lying to him!

So the medic shut her eyes and thought of other things, willing her mind back to Konoha, reliving happier times (but no Team 7 memories – she was staying well away from those), and hoping her mind would eventually calm enough for her to drift off again.

For his part, Sasuke couldn't sleep either. But he didn't move around as he could hear Sakura doing; instead he held himself perfectly still, hoping that eventually the exhaustion of the day would outweigh the agitation of his mind.

The time crawled by, measured in his slow, steady breaths as he tried to will his body into slumber. He heard the rustling of Sakura's movement subside, her own breathing beginning to soften and even out as she slipped away from the conscious world.

Strangely, the knowledge that she was sleeping peacefully merely feet from him soothed Sasuke into sleep faster than any relaxation tricks could have.

-xxx-

Sasuke's eyes flew open and his hand reached for his sword in the darkness, ready to defend himself against whatever had awoken him.

Then he realised there was no presence in the room save his and Sakura's. He hadn't been awoken by an intruder, but by the soft whimpers and moans coming from his roommate.

Sasuke propped himself up on one elbow, gazing through the room in an effort to pinpoint the source of her distress.. But there was nothing – Sakura's eyes were still tightly shut, and the stilted, jerky movements that accompanied those small sounds told Sasuke she was in the grip of some kind of nightmare.

Hardly knowing why he was doing it, he rose from the bed and silently crossed the room.

Now that he was closer, Sasuke noticed small trails of salt and water glimmering in the moonlight, and realised that whatever Sakura was dreaming about was causing her such anguish that she was actually crying.

He also realised – with a small shock – that this was the first time he'd seen her cry in years. In fact, despite the fact that events of the past weeks had to have been rather harrowing for her, the last time he could remember seeing Sakura cry was when he left Konoha all those years ago.

The sleeping woman flinched, her tiny cry drawing him out of his thoughts. He watched her brow furrow, her face twisting into a pained expression...and his hand was reaching out for her before he could stop it.

His fingers stroked through her hair, whispering gently across her face. She twitched and Sasuke snatched his hand back as though he'd been burned.

But when she didn't wake, his hand gravitated back towards her as though pulled by a magnet. His fingers rubbed over the frown lines on her forehead as though they could be smoothed like wet clay.

And to his astonishment, they were. Whether the feel of a hand on her face had comforted her or a new sensation had broken the rhythm of the nightmare, Sakura's face relaxed by gradual inches, the knotted muscles underneath his fingers slowly losing their tension.

It was only when she sighed and tried to snuggle into the caress that Sasuke withdrew, feeling suddenly uncomfortable, as though he'd exposed some raw, vulnerable part of himself.

He slipped back into the bed, taking care to be as silent as possible so Sakura didn't wake.

-xxx-

Sakura opened her eyes to soft morning light, awakened by the sound of the shower. A quick glance towards the bed found it empty, and Sakura assumed Sasuke was cleaning up.

She pushed the blanket off her, grimacing as she tried to straighten her shift – it had crumpled horribly during the night, and while Sakura wasn't as appearance-oriented as she used to be, the thing was just very uncomfortable.

She wondered if she could persuade Sasuke to buy her some new clothes.

She broached the subject as soon as he stepped out of the bathroom. "I need new clothes."

Sasuke gave her a _look_, but Sakura was not to be deterred, and ploughed on before he could say anything. "This shift is stiff, itchy and does very little for my freedom of movement. If you're going to drag me around like a recalcitrant dog, at least have the decency to give me some proper clothes!"

"Later," Sasuke told her. "First, we will find the others."

Sakura clenched her jaw against the urge to just scream out an obscenity or two.

There was a sharp rap on the door and Suigetsu's voice drifted through the wood. "Hey, are you guys up? We going yet?"

"We're going," Sasuke said, strapping his sword to his waist.

-xxx-

No matter how many times Sakura used her chakra to walk on water, there was always a feeling of surreality about it. She watched fish dart beneath her feet as they crossed the sea with a small smile on her face.

At least the collar hadn't completely deprived her of her chakra, or she had a feeling this sea-crossing (apparently necessary to find the 'next one') would have been very difficult.

"So...why are you gathering a team?" Suigetsu asked.

Sasuke glanced at him. "I have a goal. And there's a better chance of achieving that goal as a small team."

He glanced back at Sakura, trailing along behind them and looking as though she was ready to take any chance she could to escape. He regretted that she was going to be put at risk, but as he couldn't remove her collar, he couldn't risk going close to Konoha, and he couldn't just let her wander the wilderness with so little of her usual chakra...she was safer with him.

Listening to Suigetsu and Sasuke talk about forming a team, Sakura felt something burn in her stomach. She couldn't help but wonder why he didn't stay in Konoha – she, Naruto and Kakashi would have been glad to help him. Or were they not good enough?

Her chest squeezed painfully, and Sakura ruthlessly pushed the thought away. She was not going to go through another round of heartbreak over Sasuke.

Still...that didn't mean she didn't yearn to hit him really hard about the head.

"Why so quiet, Princess?" Suigetsu's voice jerked her from her thoughts.

Sakura's reply was honest. "If I'm silent, maybe you two will forget about me and I can sneak away."

"Forget about you?" Suigetsu purred. "Don't think so..."

A muscle on the side of Sasuke's jaw flexed, and Suigetsu decided to drop his flirtatious tone.

"But why Karin?" Suigetsu asked, changing the subject swiftly. "She's totally devoted to Orochimaru, she's messed around with my body before, and she hasn't exactly got the most charming attitude...if we have to have a female along, Princess'll get my vote any day."

"You were experimented on?" Sakura asked softly, feeling a small kernel of sympathy lodge in her heart for him.

Suigetsu glanced back at her, and there was an odd smile hovering on his mouth. She had the feeling it was meant to be cheeky, but it seemed more sad than anything.

"You're a real soft touch, aren't you?"

Sasuke could practically feel Sakura's heart going out to the man beside him, and shattered their moment of bonding when he cut in brusquely, "It's true there are a lot of other strong shinobi that could be handled more easily, but I need her unique abilities."

Sakura set her jaw and clenched her fists against the sudden surge of irrational jealousy. Who cared if Sasuke needed this woman? She was his prisoner – what should she care who he traveled with and why?

But it still stung. He needed this woman for...whatever reason...and he'd never needed her. She had no idea why he'd dragged her along, but she was certain it wasn't because he needed her around.

-xxx-

"_It is better to break one's heart than to do nothing with it."  
-Margaret Kennedy _

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallymefaye for beta-ing, as always!_

_And I know this wasn't in the manga, but while I was writing it struck me that there were some time constraints – they couldn't overthrow Orochimaru, pick up Suigetsu, the sword and get Karin and Juugo all in one day, could they? Especially when taking into account travel time..._


	9. Cooperation

**Chapter 9**

**Cooperation**

"_Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth."_

_-Benjamin Disraeli_

-xxx-

They reached a small, rocky island, and for a moment Sakura was certain the base must have been disguised with some sort genjutsu.

Then she noticed the opening in the rock, and the staircase that wound down into darkness.

"Great, more underground fortresses," she grumbled.

"Don't worry, Princess – you can hold my hand if you get scared," Suigetsu grinned.

Sakura made a rude gesture in his direction, but he just laughed. He seemed to laugh at everything she did, as though she had been brought along specifically for the purpose of entertaining him.

Sasuke made a noise that sounded like a snort and strode down the stairs, Suigetsu following.

Sakura blinked for a moment, dumbfounded and more than a little hopeful at the idea that they'd completely overlooked her (and if there was a bit of hurt that she was so easily forgettable to Sasuke, she ignored it). The medic glanced around, then turned and strode towards the water, intending to make a break for it.

But then Sasuke was in front of her, having moved too fast for her eyes to follow.

"Quit doing that!" Sakura shrieked.

Sasuke simply took her by the arm and pulled her back towards the opening and down the stairs.

"Okay, okay, I get it – no escaping! You can let go of me now."

"Apparently not, since I cannot trust you to follow me on your own," Sasuke said tightly, as though the words pained him somehow.

"What's your problem?" Sakura spat, frustration rumbling through her gut like thunder. "No, don't answer that, I don't care – just let me go!"

"You've got your hands full with her," Suigetsu snickered as the Uchiha dragged the woman past him, with her protesting all the way.

There were cells in this base – long ones that lined the corridor, reinforced with thick steel bars – and Sakura went still in Sasuke's grip, forgetting to fight the hold on her arm as she stared at the people contained within.

"Are they okay?" she exclaimed, twisting against Sasuke's fingers so she could keep the people in sight as long as possible. She could hear them talking to each other, saying that the rumours must be true – Sasuke had defeated Orochimaru, and was here to free them!

Sakura was about to demand that they help those people when Sasuke came to a halt, releasing her.

There was a woman standing in front of them, about their age, with bright red hair and glasses.

"Sasuke..." she said, her eyes scanning them. It might have been Sakura's imagination, but she thought she detected a flicker of resentment in the woman's eyes when they rested on her. "Well, if you're here alone, the rumours must be true."

"That's cold," Suigetsu huffed. "What about me and Princess here – what are we, chopped liver?"

"What are you doing here?" the redhead asked, as though he hadn't spoken.

But Suigetsu wasn't deterred. "Sasuke wants to talk to you. But hey, instead of standing around, can you take us to a room or something? It's been a while since I've stretched my legs and I'm beat."

The woman – who Sakura assumed was Karin, if Sasuke wanted to speak with her – snorted and marched down the corridor, pointedly ignoring both Suigetsu and Sakura.

She opened a small door that stood at the end and they strode in, both males sitting down on a small couch in one corner of the room. Sakura moved to sit beside Suigetsu, but Sasuke seized her wrist and yanked, sending her careening down beside him.

"Hey!" she yelped indignantly. "Watch the arm – I swear you'll dislocate it if you keep up this pulling and grabbing."

"And who is she?" Karin snapped, pointing at the pink-haired medic.

Suigetsu smirked. "She's Sasuke's sweetheart."

Karin spluttered, and the shark-man laughed and amended, "Well, she's more like his slave. See the collar Princess is wearing?"

Karin glanced at Sakura again, and nodded slowly, apparently realising that Sakura was a slave. "She doesn't look particularly strong, no good for manual labour...so she's a whore?"

Sakura opened her mouth to shriek a denial, but Sasuke beat her to it.

"No," he said bluntly, his voice hard. "Sakura is not a whore."

Sakura blinked, rather taken aback at the cold fury in Sasuke's eyes. Karin seemed similarly shocked.

But Suigetsu didn't seem surprised. "Bit tetchy, aren't you?"

Sasuke ignored him. "Karin, you're coming with us – I need you."

At that blunt statement, Sakura felt a tightness in her throat, but she was tired of hurting over him.

"What?" Karin screeched. "Why do I need to go anywhere? I've been put in charge of this place!"

"Orochimaru's gone," Sasuke countered.

"What're we going to do with all the captives?" the redhead retorted.

"Suigetsu, go and release the prisoners," Sasuke instructed.

Sakura sighed. Typical, really. _'Overbearing, self-righteous jackass!'_

Of course, if it got those poor people out, she couldn't really complain.

"Don't you dare!" Karin hissed as the white-haired man rose from his seat.

"There is no more reason to keep them around," Sasuke pointed out. "What would you do with them?"

Remembering the ragged, thin people she had seen in the cell, Sakura stood as well. "I'll help."

"What did I say?" Suigetsu smirked. "Real soft touch."

"It's not a bad thing," Sakura groused as she trotted out the door behind him. Sasuke had made no move to stop her, so she took that as unspoken permission.

"I have no obligation to go with you!" Karin spat as the door closed behind them.

Sasuke gazed at her, assessing how serious she was. One part of his mind was tracking Sakura's chakra signature, monitoring her to ensure he'd be aware of any escape attempt.

Sasuke was well aware of Karin's infatuation with him – he'd had plenty of experience of that in Konoha, and if there was one thing he knew about infatuation, it was that if he affected disinterest, they simply tried all the harder to gain his attention.

So he simply sighed, and said, "Fine. If you feel that strongly about it, I'll just have to find someone else."

Barely slower than a blink, Karin had rushed to the door and locked it.

"I'll come," she cooed, setting her glasses aside as she slowly approached him, sitting down next to him and deliberately sidling close to him. "If you really want me to...I'll go with you. I'm getting bored of this glorified guard duty anyway..."

She pressed closer, until their shoulders were touching. "Come on – we don't need those two idiots...it can be just you and me..."

"Don't get so close," Sasuke said, feeling himself begin to tense. He didn't like it when people moved into his personal space. He had never really minded when Sakura did it...but that was different.

"_Suigetsu!_" came Sakura's shriek from behind the door, making Sasuke stiffen, wondering if he'd have to reinforce his threat of mutilation. "What are you-!"

But then the door was cleaved into pieces, fragments of wood and stone skittering across the floor. Karin leapt away from Sasuke like he'd suddenly turned into a puddle of slime.

Suigetsu stood in the doorway, leaning on his sword as one of his arms bulged with muscles. Sakura was behind him, her arms flung up over her head to protect herself from the rain of debris.

"You idiot!" she snarled, her clenched hand slamming into his back. "What if you'd brought the whole ceiling down on us?"

"Watch those fists, Princess," the white-haired man whined, rubbing at his side as his muscled arm slowly shrank to its usual size. "I need some of those ribs you're cracking."

"You'll live," Sakura retorted.

But Suigetsu noticed her eyes flicker over him briefly, assessing his condition. Sakura might put on a front of sharp-tongued insults and sarcasm, but at heart she was probably the most compassionate person he'd ever seen.

So he grinned at her, letting her know he'd only been joking, then addressed Sasuke again. "Well, let's get going, then – Karin clearly doesn't want to come."

"Actually, she's changed her mind," Sasuke informed them.

"I-I never said that!" the redhead protested. "I'm...I'm just heading in the same direction."

_'Sure you are...'_ Sakura thought, hating herself for the touch of resentment that snaked into that thought. But she was confident there was a reason she and Suigetsu had found that door locked, forcing him to knock it down.

Suigetsu seemed to be of the same opinion, because there was an edge to his voice when he replied, "Really? Well, that's convenient, then. Guess you'll be with us for a little while, huh?"

"Just a little while," Karin insisted defensively.

"Hear that, Princess? You're gonna have a gal-pal." Suigetsu reached out to pat her on the shoulder, but pulled his hand back when Sasuke's chakra suddenly spiked. "Take it easy – I'm not touching her."

"Why should Sasuke care if you're touching her?" Karin grumped.

"He's the jealous type," Suigetsu replied. "Doesn't want anyone else messing with his woman."

"I am not 'his woman'!" Sakura insisted.

Sasuke couldn't help the small smirk that flickered across his face at Sakura's defiance. Karin looked scandalised, astonished that any woman would vehemently deny being Sasuke's instead of reveling in it.

Of course, Sakura wasn't paying attention to her. She was thinking of the people she and Suigetsu had released, carrying their messages to the outside world. Suigetsu had told them to say that Sasuke truly had defeated Orochimaru, and she...

She'd told them that, if they saw anyone from Konoha, to say that Haruno Sakura was unharmed, and that she would be doing her best to get back to her friends soon.

Suigetsu had laughed at that. "Don't count on it, Princess," he'd told her. "I don't know what you are to Sasuke, but I don't think he's letting you go anytime soon."

-xxx-

"So, we're heading to Juugo now, right?" Suigetsu said as they made their way to the surface once more. "Does this mean more walking?"

"Juugo?" Karin yelped. "You're going to include that guy in the team?"

She shot a glance at Sasuke, but he wasn't paying attention to her. It irritated her to realise his eyes were on the pink-haired woman, who was currently gazing out to sea.

Sakura, for her part, was weighing the possibility of escape if she simply made a run for it. _'Not a chance,'_ she decided. _'Sasuke would be on me before I so much as set foot off the rock.'_

"You know if we go to the North hideout, we'll be dead the second we walk in," Karin stated bluntly, trying to drag Sasuke's attention back to her.

"I only know about it from maps," Suigetsu admitted. "Is it really that dangerous?"

"That place was the main site for human experimentation!" the redhead spat. "It's nothing but a nest of monstrosities."

"Monstrosities that you and your kind created," Sakura said quietly.

For a moment, there was silence. Karin looked as though she couldn't believe Sakura's audacity.

"Lord Orochimaru was paving a path to power you've never dreamed of!"

Sakura sneered – she couldn't help it. "I'm sure. And if 'power' means butchering people like animals, then I don't want anything to do with it!"

Suigetsu's eyes darted to Karin, waiting for the retaliation, feeling as though he were watching a fencing duel.

"What's the matter?" Karin cooed mockingly. "Don't have the stomach for it?"

Sakura's eyes flashed, but her voice was soft and controlled, hard as diamonds, "I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone. To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug nor give advice which may cause death."

Karin blinked, apparently lost, and Suigetsu chuckled, seeming to derive malicious amusement from her confusion.

"Guess Orochimaru doesn't make his medics and researchers take the Hippocratic Oath," Sakura mused, naked contempt in her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

Karin's face twisted in fury, but a warning glance from Sasuke quelled her immediate outburst, making her tone low and tempered when she spoke.

"Why are you here anyway?" she asked. "You can't do a thing with that collar on! Well, I suppose you can spread your legs-"

"Karin!" Sasuke's voice cracked through the air like a whip.

Sakura spoke as if the insult had never been thrown. "If I knew why I was here, I'd tell you, as it is-" she tilted her thumb at Sasuke, "-you'll have to ask him."

Karin glanced at the Uchiha, but one look at his closed face told her he wouldn't say anything on the subject.

"Well, I guess there's no helping it," Suigetsu grumbled, stepping out onto the water with a lot of groaning and muttering. "Let's get going."

"Stay close, Sakura," Sasuke ordered.

She sighed in exasperation, but shadowed him nevertheless. If she didn't, he'd probably just yank her around by her arm again.

-xxx-

It was in a canyon that Suigetsu next demanded a rest.

"You're pathetic!" Karin snarled. "There's still a long way to go to the North hideout."

"I thought you were headed somewhere else?" Suigetsu shrugged, taking a long drink from his water bottle. "So why don't you just leave?"

"I...I just remembered that I have business there, too," Karin blustered.

Silence reigned for a few moments. Sakura sprawled out on the warm rock, allowing herself a small smile at the feel of the sun slowly heating her skin.

"Suigetsu...why are you traveling with Sasuke?" Karin asked eventually.

"I could ask you the same question," the white-haired man shrugged. "But I have plans of my own, and I need Sasuke's help."

"While we're addressing goals and reasons," Sakura piped up, turning to Sasuke. "Why the hell did you bring me along?"

Sasuke snorted. "You're an idiot if you don't know."

Fury pulsed at the edges of Sakura's vision and her jaw clenched so tightly it was a wonder her teeth didn't crack. He abducted her, dragged her across the countryside while he gathered a team that was supposed to help him kill Itachi (completely ignoring the fact that his friends in Konoha were perfectly willing to help him!) and he was suggesting that she was the idiot because she didn't know why?

Her frustration boiled like an overheated pot, demanding release, screaming for an outlet...

So Sakura threw a rock at him.

It was certainly childish, and almost definitely futile, but she noted that she felt better – calmer – almost as soon as the rock was released from her hand.

It didn't hit him, of course. Sasuke flashed across the distance between them before the rock was even halfway across, letting it thump harmlessly onto the bare ground as he seized her wrists, twisting them up behind her back and forcing her against his body, effectively pinning her while standing upright.

_'This seems to be becoming a habit for us,'_ she mused. _'Physical contact under extreme anger. Though it's probably my fault – I should learn to curb my impulses better.'_

But damn if Sasuke couldn't make her mad enough to rip the skin from his body piece by piece.

"You will not do that again," the Uchiha said sternly.

Karin was gaping, apparently unable to believe her eyes. "Did you see that? She just attacked Sasuke! Just like that!"

Suigetsu shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. "I'll say this for you, Princess – you've got energy!"

Sasuke and Sakura ignored them, their eyes locked in a silent battle of wills.

"I will release you," Sasuke said, carefully enunciating each syllable as though ensuring there was no possible way she could misunderstand. "And you will not attempt to attack me again."

Sakura's lip curled. "Yeah, right," she scoffed.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, but Sakura paid no heed to the warning signs and forged blindly ahead.

"You know what your problem is, Sasuke? You're as self-centered as a top. You can't conceive of any way but yours being the right one, and you never notice anyone else's needs and wants because you never look past your own nose. So here's a newsflash, jerk – the world doesn't revolve around you!"

Suigetsu winced, wishing Sakura could have held her tongue. He'd seen Sasuke jam blades into people's bodies for speaking to him like that, and he hoped that whatever Sasuke did to her to curb her attitude didn't hurt her too badly – he was becoming rather fond of her.

True to Suigetsu's prediction, Sasuke's expression darkened and he jerked on the wrists he held captive, forcing her closer to him. He could see Sasuke's grip on her tighten until his knuckles bleached...and then abruptly, the Uchiha relaxed his hold, allowing Sakura to scramble away from him.

And Suigetsu was left staring. He'd seen men and women bleed for less grave offenses than that...but Sakura had gotten away with it with little more than a glare. And though Sasuke had never been the touchy-feely type, he seemed to take every opportunity he had to initiate physical contact with Sakura.

Suigetsu still had no idea what she was to Sasuke...but whatever it was, it was clearly important.

-xxx-

"What do you really know about Juugo when you say you want him in the team?" Karin asked eventually when they started walking once more.

Sakura had positioned herself well away from Sasuke, still stinging from his flippant remark about what was essentially his abduction of her. But she listened to their conversation, eager to pick up anything that might aid her in her escape.

"I know a little," Suigetsu admitted. "I fought him once. He was pretty strong, and he had some interesting powers...but I didn't like him – I could never tell what he was thinking."

He took a sip of his water. "I heard that he's being held up in the North base voluntarily, which says a lot about how crazy he is."

Karin rolled her eyes. "Yes, but do you know _why_ he came to Orochimaru?"

Suigetsu shrugged. "Maybe because he's just a bit thick in the head."

"No – he wanted to be rehabilitated."

Sakura blinked in surprise. This Juugo person had gone to Orochimaru to be cured of something?

"Rehabilitated?" Suigetsu echoed.

Karin nodded. "He wanted to suppress his killing impulses. Usually, those urges are practically nonexistent within him, but eventually, he snaps, forgets who he is, and turns into a murderous, raging demon."

Sakura had never met this Juugo, but she was feeling sorry for him already.

"This was very appealing to Orochimaru," the redhead continued. "He used Juugo's blood to culture an enzyme that would create the same conditions in another shinobi's body."

She allowed them to digest that for a moment. "Do you know what I'm talking about?"

Sakura thought she did, and her suspicions were confirmed when she saw Sasuke glance towards the black marks that marred his neck. "The curse seal."

Karin's head snapped towards her, looking irritated at the idea that the other woman had worked it out. "Yes," she said shortly. "Juugo is the origin of the curse seal."

"So it's an enzyme, huh?" Sakura mused, making note of that – if nothing else, it might help the medics when they treated Anko. "Did anyone try chemical therapy?"

Karin turned her face away from the medic, deliberately ignoring her. But Sakura reflected that seemed to be the redhead's usual attitude to her. Karin seemed to understand that Sasuke wouldn't tolerate any outright attacks on her, so the other woman appeared content to pretend Sakura didn't exist for the most part, save to toss out an occasional scathing comment when an opening arose.

And frankly, Sakura couldn't bring herself to care about it. Karin wasn't the first person who disliked her for no apparent reason, and she certainly wouldn't be the last. She'd learned it was better to just accept it and move on rather than wasting energy worrying about it or antagonising them.

Besides, the less she thought about Karin, the less opportunity she had to dwell on the fact that Sasuke had said he needed her.

"What do you mean by 'chemical therapy'?" Suigetsu asked.

"Chemicals regulate practically every function of the body," Sakura explained. "There are chemicals that can give you incredible rage and strength – adrenaline, for example – and there are also chemicals that can calm you down. If the curse seal is indeed enzymatic in nature, it can probably be countered with another chemical...were there any experiments done in that direction?"

Karin huffed, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"Oh, right," Sakura nodded, a cynical smirk on her face. "I get it. Juugo was a source of power – why cure him?"

She shook her head, feeling moved by pity for this man she had never seen. If he had come to Konoha, they would have truly tried to help him, instead of exploiting him.

But then, that seemed typical of Sound. They understood violence and power...but compassion and self-sacrifice were beyond them. Orochimaru knew how to train people to kill, but he could never truly understand why people were willing to die.

And the more she saw of this world, the more frightened Sakura became that Sasuke was too far down this dark road to ever be saved.

-xxx-

"Hey, why don't we rest a little?" Suigetsu said, sitting back on the ground.

"All you ever do is rest!" Karin growled. "We're at the base already!"

Suigetsu waved a hand dismissively.

"Is it the sword? The sword's heavy, isn't it? Just drop the damn thing so we can go!"

"It might have more to do with the fact that he's been locked up in a jar for god only knows how long," Sakura muttered.

"Hey!" Sasuke said, apparently trying to attract their attention.

Sakura glanced in his direction...and saw a man lying face down on the earth in front of them, his clothes tattered and stained with blood.

And just like that, her medic instincts took over. She bolted towards the fallen figure, the others hard on her heels. As soon as they reached the man, Sakura, Karin and Sasuke dropped to their knees beside him. The redhead made to turn him over, but Sakura's hand flashed out and caught her wrist.

"Don't move him yet – his spinal column could be damaged!"

"And how would you know?" Karin spat, but Sakura didn't hear her.

She was too busy running her hands gently along the curve of the man's vertebrae, letting her chakra seep into his skin, assessing his condition.

"It's okay – no damage to the spine," she said at last. "We can turn him over."

They did so, their charge stirring as the motion roused him from unconsciousness.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked as soon as the man's eyes opened.

The man coughed, and Sakura rested her hands on his chest, closing her eyes as she dredged up any chakra she could and began to heal his many injuries.

"The prisoners..." the man wheezed. "They started rioting..."

The pink-haired woman pressed a hand over his mouth. "Stop talking if you want to stay alive."

And then she closed her eyes and threw herself into the healing. But it was difficult. The collar around her throat meant she had to conserve chakra as she would water in a desert; she couldn't just repair every wound she sensed on his body, she had to seek out the worst of his injuries – the mortal ones – and heal them first. She poured all the chakra she could into him...and when she realised that wasn't enough, she poured some more.

She knew what she was doing was dangerous – the collar meant she ran the risk of fainting before the healing was over. And she didn't know this man – he was a part of Sound, she owed him nothing...

Or so Sakura the ninja said. But Sakura the medic was determined that no one was going to die on her watch!

So she spent every particle of energy she could to heal the shattered body her hands rested on. Her skin felt strangely hot yet cold, her limbs feeling like dead-weights as she sapped more and more energy from her body.

At last, Sakura sensed she was done – he was still suffering, she hadn't been able to heal everything – but he wouldn't die.

She opened her eyes as she began to list forward, her arms and legs feeling as incapable of supporting her weight as thin reeds. But the fall that would have sent her toppling onto her patient was arrested abruptly by an arm around her ribcage, just under her breasts. A small tug, and Sakura collapsed backwards against Sasuke's chest.

"He'll be unconscious for a while," she mumbled, her lips and tongue feeling strangely thick. "But he'll survive."

Suigetsu whistled as he looked the man over. "Wow – you _are_ good. I thought for sure the guy was at death's door and yet even with the collar you managed to fix him up."

Sakura smiled weakly.

Sasuke looked down at the medic, noting the thin sheen of sweat that glistened on her skin, the slow, sluggish movement of her eyes, and realised that Sakura was at her limit. His arm tightened around her, holding her more firmly against him. He felt something in his chest swell when she leaned more of her weight against him, resting her head trustingly in the hollow beneath his collarbone.

Almost without realising he was doing it, he tilted his head until it rested against the top of her own, until the soft strands of her hair were pressed against his cheek.

He could feel her breath against his skin.

But the moment was broken when he detected a high level of chakra speeding towards them.

He rose swiftly, grateful that Sakura's legs unfolded as he did so and she tried to support some of her own weight. She would have difficulty standing alone, but at least she wouldn't have to be carried.

"Suigetsu, take her!" he snapped.

"Oh, I can touch her now, can I?" the white-haired man muttered, his arms sliding around Sakura's shoulders to support her as Sasuke carefully handed her over.

"Your skin's cold..." Sakura muttered.

"Comes of being made of water, Princess."

A dark grey missile slammed into the ground in front of them, the rock cracking beneath the force. Sakura blinked, her tired mind realising it was actually a person – a person whose skin was slate grey, who had horns protruding from his head, a flat tail snaking behind him, and strangely misshapen arms.

"What the hell is that?" Suigetsu asked, echoing her own thoughts.

"A level two curse seal transformation," Karin told them.

"Hn." Sasuke drew his sword.

And the next thing Sakura knew, their attacker was crashing to the ground, blood staining his clothes. Sometimes she forgot how insanely fast Sasuke could be.

Strangely, the dark grey colouring to the man's skin seemed to regress, pulling back as though it was being sucked up by a straw, his monstrous features vanishing with it. Now, he looked like an ordinary human being, bleeding out onto the rock.

Sakura tried to push away from Suigetsu, automatically trying to move to his aid, but Sasuke was suddenly right in front of her, his arm around her waist to support her shaky legs.

"I avoided the vital points," he said, sounding irritated.

She nodded blearily, too tired to censor the urge to lean into him. And too exhausted to wonder why she instinctively trusted him to take care of her.

She hated the way her body refused to obey her, the way her normally fast mind seemed to have slowed to a crawl...but she supposed it could be worse. She could have passed out entirely.

"The North base is up ahead," Sasuke went on. "Hurry up."

"Sasuke, maybe we should leave her here," Karin suggested. "She's obviously too weak to be much use-"

"No!" he snapped. "Sakura stays with me."

The redhead subsided, but Sakura could tell from her thinned lips and tight expression that she was less than pleased.

They made their way slowly towards the North hideout, and Sakura knew their pace was mainly a concession to her. She felt as unsteady on her legs as a newborn deer.

She could feel Sasuke's arm around her getting tighter and tenser, and knew he was probably sensing something of what lay ahead – a sense that the collar denied her. She was proven correct when they rounded one of the rocky pillars surrounding them and found themselves facing what seemed to be an army of monsters.

"The guards are all dead," Karin breathed. "A complete prison break..."

Sakura would have felt intimidated if she weren't so exhausted.

"How do we tell which one's Juugo?" Suigetsu pointed out.

"Karin, is Juugo in there?" Sasuke asked, his eyes sliding to the redhead standing beside him.

"Wait a moment," she said, her hands flying into a seal and her eyes sliding closed. "No...he's not there."

In spite of herself, Sakura was impressed. She'd never heard of anyone capable of picking a single chakra signature out of a wild chaotic mass like the one in front of them. Was this why Sasuke had taken her along – she could detect people's locations through chakra? Was he planning to track Itachi through her?

"So we can go crazy, right?" Suigetsu grinned, hefting his enormous sword.

"Just avoid the vital points," Sasuke instructed, shifting Sakura over to Karin. "Karin, watch her."

The redhead grudgingly took the medic's half-limp form from him, slinging Sakura's arm over her shoulders to anchor her in an upright position.

"Thanks," the smaller woman muttered.

Karin ignored her, still doing her best to pretend Sakura didn't exist.

"You really are from Konoha, aren't you?" Suigetsu snickered at Sasuke. "You're too soft."

All Sakura could think was that this Sasuke who insisted on not killing prisoners seemed rather at odds with the Sasuke who had tried to kill Naruto.

_'Well, you know what they say about protesting too much...'_ came a soft, hopeful voice in the back of her mind.

-xxx-

"_You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel."_

_-Unknown _

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye, my brilliant beta!_

_Also, the excerpt from the Hippocratic Oath that Sakura recited was from one of the older versions. I know it's been updated, but this version seemed to fit the situation better._


	10. Compassion

**Chapter 10**

**Compassion**

"_A good heart is better than all the heads in the world."_

_-Edward Bulwer-Lytton_

-xxx-

The battle took a lot less time than Sakura would have expected. It seemed barely five minutes had passed before Sasuke and Suigetsu were standing among a mass of fallen foes, both smirking as they sheathed their blades.

"I'll look for the key!" Karin announced, shoving Sakura towards the males as she made for the open entrance.

Sasuke caught Sakura as she fell against him, and couldn't help smirking at her muttering of, "I'm not a damn football, quit tossing me around like one!"

"I found it!" came Karin's yell from within the base a few moments later. She came out brandishing a small ring of brass keys, which Sakura assumed she'd taken from a guard's body.

They entered the hideout, and Sakura's first thought was of a hospital. The stone was cleanly, precisely cut, not the usual rough-hewn walls of the other bases she'd been in. And this one had electric lights positioned at even, frequent intervals along the ceiling.

They came to hallway crossing their own, and here Sasuke stopped. "Karin, you have to lead the way."

"Why are you bossing us around like this, Sasuke?" she complained.

"Because he's a jerk with a stick so far up his ass he can probably taste it in his throat," Sakura muttered.

Suigetsu roared with laughter. "Well, she's certainly got your number, hasn't she, Sasuke?"

Because she was resting against Sasuke's chest, Sakura couldn't see his expression, but she was willing to bet he was scowling.

"You can't talk about Sasuke like that!" Karin screeched.

Sakura grimaced, not having the energy for an argument.

"Leave her alone," Sasuke ordered, a touch of true irritation in his voice. "Which way?"

"That way," Karin said, pointing to the right corridor.

Suigetsu turned first, but when Sasuke made to do the same Karin's arm shot out, blocking his path.

"This way," she whispered, nudging him in the direction of the forward corridor. "You can just leave the girl here – she'll be fine..."

Sakura's brain felt like a limp dishrag, but she knew what Karin was trying to do. She suspected (well, she _knew_, judging by those doe-eyed looks) that Karin had a crush on Sasuke – she was trying to get him alone.

So Sakura raised her voice, just enough to get the attention of the white-haired man who was walking in the wrong direction. "Suigetsu!"

He turned, saw Karin trying to nudge Sasuke (and Sakura in his arms) in another direction, and gave a very unpleasant grin as he retraced his steps. "I suppose I should have expected something like this from a bitch like you."

Sakura paid their argument no attention – she was gingerly testing the strength of her legs as she slowly moved away from Sasuke. She was grateful that they seemed ready to support her on their own now, even though she doubted she'd be able to move particularly fast.

She realised Sasuke was watching her carefully and she looked up, ready to screech that she wasn't in any condition to escape...but the words died in her throat at the expression on his face. He wasn't watching her like a guard watching a prisoner...he was watching her as though he needed to make sure she was steady on her legs, as though he needed reassurance that she was recovering.

"Well, are we going, or what?" Suigetsu asked, forging on ahead. And then, noticing Sakura was standing on her own again, "You feeling better, Princess?"

"A little," Sakura admitted, starting off down the corridor.

When Sasuke slid into step beside her, hovering like a large, scary mother hen, Sakura told herself it was only because he didn't want her slowing him down.

-xxx-

"So...this is Juugo's cell, huh?" Suigetsu said, staring at the door in front of him. "A bit of overkill, don't you think?"

The door was reinforced metal, with four separate locks and two chains draped across it to hold it closed.

"Someone didn't want him getting out anytime soon," Sakura murmured as Karin used her stolen keys to open the locks one by one as Sasuke removed the chains.

"I'll go in first," Sasuke told them. "Sakura, stay behind Suigetsu."

Sakura rolled her eyes, but did as he asked. As much as she hated to admit it, sheer force of will was pretty much all that was keeping her on her feet at the moment, and at times discretion really _was_ the better part of valour.

Sasuke cracked the door open.

"_You're dead!_" came a scream from inside.

And then a large blonde man flew from the cell, laughing manically as he slammed into Sasuke and sent him ploughing into the wall behind them. Sakura just had time to note that there was a ball and chain attached to the strange man's leg, and one of his arms was warped and misshapen, before Suigetsu yanked her to his chest and twisted so his body was between her and Juugo, sheltering her from the rain of debris from the shattered wall. Karin fell backwards beside them, the force of Juugo's charge pushing her aside like a paper cup.

"_Sasuke!_" the redhead screamed.

Sakura's heart was in her throat...until the dust cleared and she saw that there was something sheltering Sasuke from Juugo – it looked like huge fingers...

The strange appendage shoved Juugo backwards, and Sakura realised it was sprouting from Sasuke's shoulder. It looked like some strange mix between a wing and a giant hand.

_'This must be the next stage of the curse seal that Naruto told me about,'_ she thought dimly, feeling slightly repulsed. Her medic's knowledge of anatomy and physiology was screaming that this was just wrong!

"I don't want to fight," Sasuke said. "I want to talk with you."

"I don't think he's in much of a mood for talking," Sakura commented.

"He didn't use that power when I fought him," Suigetsu mused, his eyes on the strangely warped arm.

A broad, shark-like grin broke out on his face as he stepped away from Sakura. "Hey, Sasuke, can I fight him?"

"No, Suigetsu," Sasuke said. "We didn't come here to fight."

"So you're Suigetsu!" Juugo roared. "I remember you!"

And he lunged. Suigetsu raised his sword and swung, the blade clashing with Juugo's strangely invulnerable arm, glancing off and pulling his body around with the force of the swing.

Sakura was still feeling rather sluggish, but she could see that the sword would make a complete rotation unless it was arrested somehow. And since she was standing behind Suigetsu, that complete rotation would cut her in half at the waist.

And then logical thought was wiped from her brain as every synapse screamed that there was a very big, very sharp sword coming towards her and she needed to get the hell out of the way _right now_!

Sakura dropped flat on her back, breathing hard as she waited for the sword to pass over her...but the blade never came.

Deciding to risk raising her head a little, the medic was astounded to find that two enormous snakes had wrapped themselves around Suigetsu and Juugo, immobilising both men. She blinked when she realised that several coils of one serpent were looped around Suigetsu's sword, halting it in the air about a foot away from where she had been standing.

Sasuke's eyes were blazing with the Sharingan, and his voice was cold and savage, deliberate murderous intent saturating the air. "Do you want me to kill you?"

Not waiting for a reply, he bent to Sakura, helping her to her feet. "Are you hurt?"

His voice was still cold, but Sakura was surprised to realise he looked genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine," she assured him, rather astounded at how fast the summoning had been performed. He would have had only a few moments to react...

The snakes receded, and Sakura kicked Suigetsu in the ankle to cover her unease at the killing intent still radiating off Sasuke. "You could have killed me!"

Suigetsu looked a little sheepish, but she noticed him watching Sasuke warily. "Sorry about that, Princess."

Karin was also staring at the Uchiha, but she was blushing, a dreamy, glazed look in her eye.

Not that Sakura could really blame her. Commanding-Sasuke, while deeply irritating and infuriating, was also very attractive. And that whole bare-chest thing...

_'No, no, no!'_ She gave herself a mental slap. _'Traitor, jerk, kidnapper, remember? You are over him, you are not feeling anything for him – he means nothing!'_

And yet, each repetition of those sentiments only made them less convincing.

Juugo blinked, and the curse seal retracted, his enormous arm shrinking back to normal size as the dark grey hue left his skin. He stared around him, looking confused and disoriented as though he had just woken up. A sort of terrified realisation settled over his face, and he bolted back into his cell with a scream, slamming the door behind him.

"Lock the door!" he screamed at them. "Lock the door!"

Sakura blinked, bewildered by the abrupt turn-around.

"I came here to free you," Sasuke called through the door. "Come with me."

"I don't want to kill any more people!" came the anguished reply. "Don't make me go outside..._just leave me alone!_"

"It's like a split personality," Sakura breathed, blinking away the sudden sting of tears.

Juugo couldn't control himself...but he so hated the idea of killing that he would hide away, afraid of the outside...

"Orochimaru is dead," Sasuke said bluntly. "This base will crumble. If you stay here, you'll die."

"_I don't care!_"

And that was when Sakura made up her mind. She didn't want to help Sasuke walk a path that would take him farther from Konoha, but she couldn't turn her back on someone who was so clearly suffering.

She strode past the others and unceremoniously yanked the door open.

"What the hell are you doing?" Suigetsu yelped.

Karin goggled at her. "Are you crazy?"

Sasuke's hand shot out, grabbing at her shoulder, but she shrugged it off and stepped quickly out of his reach.

As she entered the cell, Juugo scrambled backwards, pressing himself against the far wall. "Get away from me!"

Sakura ignored that outburst and stuck out her hand as though they were being introduced at a cocktail party. "Hi, I know you're Juugo, and I'm Haruno Sakura, pleased to meet you."

The blonde man stared up at her, completely nonplussed. Sakura could hear Karin spluttering incoherently behind her, and a comment from Suigetsu reached her ears.

"She's gone completely loopy!"

After waiting for several breaths, Sakura reached down and seized Juugo's wrist, guiding his hand to hers and shaking it firmly.

Juugo was staring at her as though he'd never seen another human being before. But Sakura could allow for his surprise – she had a feeling she was probably the first person in a long time not to treat him like either a valuable commodity or a dangerous lunatic.

She sat beside him, smiling as though they were old friends. "You're a good person, aren't you?"

Juugo blinked at her, and there was nothing but silence from the others. Sakura supposed her statement had been a bit of a non-sequitur.

"I mean, you're so desperate not to hurt anyone that you're prepared to spend the rest of your life locked up like some kind of criminal," she clarified.

"This is how it has to be," he insisted. "You shouldn't...just go, before I try to hurt you!"

"Meaner and scarier guys than you have tried."

"Go!" he yelled, one hand swinging towards her as though to push her away.

Sakura ignored it. "And you'll remain in isolation because you're terrified of anyone getting close enough to be hurt. You know...you kinda remind me of one of my friends."

Sakura couldn't help but feel slightly concerned that she was so desperate for the company of her friend and teammate that she was beginning to see aspects of Naruto everywhere, but forged on ahead anyway. "He can be...triggered into going on something of a rampage as well, but he doesn't let it control his life. He's one of my dearest friends in spite of that, and I figure I could become your friend, too."

"My...friend?" Juugo said dully.

"Yeah. He may be a cold-hearted jerk, but if Sasuke wants to set you free...why not take a chance?"

"S-Sasuke?" Juugo repeated, looking startled. "He is Uchiha Sasuke?"

Sakura nodded, realising this obviously meant something to Juugo.

"He...Kimimaro died for you," the blonde man said, his eyes fixed on the dark-haired man who stood at the entrance to his cell.

Sakura vaguely heard Karin explaining that Kimimaro had been Juugo's friend – capable of stopping the big man's rages – but her attention was riveted on Juugo's expression. It was a strange mixture of longing, remembrance and a sort of tentative hope.

Something told her that he was teetering on the cusp of a decision – all he needed was the slightest nudge to push him into it.

So Sakura climbed to her feet once more (trying to ignore the momentary lightheadedness that shook her) and extended her hand down to him like a child offering to help a playmate up after a fall. When he only stared at her outstretched limb, she waggled her fingers enticingly, trying to coax him into grasping them.

In spite of her sunny smile, she hadn't really been sure what he would do, so it came as a surprise when Juugo slowly slid his hand into hers, and she tugged lightly on his arm as he gained his feet.

In that moment, she knew Juugo would accompany Sasuke. And some part of her was glad – while Suigetsu was nice to talk to, she couldn't forget how bloodthirsty he obviously was.

But it seemed that Juugo was anything _but_ violent, under normal circumstances.

His hand in hers was timid and tentative, as though he couldn't quite believe this was really happening, and Sakura wondered how long it had been since he'd had simple human contact.

"So," she began, unable to resist grinning at the others, all of whom seemed to wearing expressions that were various degrees of stunned. Karin's was the most extreme, while Sasuke's was barely a raised eyebrow. "Can we go back to the surface now? I want some light and air – I'm sick of all these underground tunnels."

-xxx-

Sasuke did his best to ignore the way Karin was practically breathing down his neck on the way back to the surface. He was more concerned with Sakura – who was still looking a little unsteady – sandwiched between Suigetsu and Juugo, apparently chatting happily with both men.

He realised she'd stopped really talking to him since they left Sound...and since he'd forced her to go with him. But couldn't she see why he was doing it?

Apparently not, or surely she wouldn't be so furious with him.

He considered telling her point blank why he was bringing her...but somehow, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Sakura, for her part, had asked Suigetsu why he'd stepped in front of her when Juugo had charged out of his cell and slammed Sasuke into the wall. He hadn't really struck her as the compassionate type.

"I'd hate to see that pretty face get stomped on," he smirked. "And I'm not real eager to find out what Sasuke would do if I let you get hurt."

"I don't think he'd be _that_ bothered about it," she protested.

Suigetsu snickered. "Keep telling yourself that, Princess."

-xxx-

Sakura sighed, kicking a rock idly as she trotted along behind Sasuke, thinking of what she'd just heard.

He'd explained to the others that he had formed the team with the goal of killing Itachi (like Sakura hadn't seen that one coming a mile away), while the others seemed to agree to travel with him for various motives. Apparently, Suigetsu was after Kisame's sword – some people collected stamps, and Suigetsu collected swords.

Karin had muttered something about being along for the ride, but Sakura suspected it was her infatuation with Sasuke that was keeping her with them, while Juugo had said he wanted to determine if Sasuke was truly worthy of Kimimaro's sacrifice.

Sakura had found that reason to be kind of sweet, if morbidly bizarre.

Sasuke had christened the group Hebi and announced that they would be seeking out Itachi. Sakura had no idea how they were going to go about this, but supposed Sasuke had to have a plan of some sort.

"A four man team is more efficient," she heard Karin mutter to Sasuke. "Why are you bringing _her_ along? Unless she really is a slu-"

"Enough, Karin," Sasuke said sternly.

The redhead subsided, but Sakura was still rather irked.

"What is it with her and me being promiscuous?" she asked Suigetsu.

He shrugged. "She just doesn't like you."

"I actually got that. What I'm wondering is why."

"She perceives you as a threat to her advances on Sasuke," Juugo said quietly.

Sakura blinked at him, then laughed. "Let me assure you, as far as Sasuke's affections go...I'm no threat. I never had much of a hold on him in the first place."

"If you say so..." Suigetsu muttered, sounding unconvinced.

"By the way – _where are we going?_" Sakura pitched her voice to be heard by the two traveling a little ahead of them.

Sasuke glanced back at her. "Somewhere you can get new clothes."

"Really?" It was almost comical to watch the way she perked up, like a child who had been offered ice cream.

"Really," he confirmed blandly.

He knew where he was going to take them. His family had a weapons store nearby...they could stock up on supplies and it could also serve as a shelter for the night.

-xxx-

"You are the most conceited, arrogant, blind son of a bitch I've ever met!"

Suigetsu snickered. Honestly, Sasuke and Sakura's interactions were like a rollercoaster – up and happy one moment, down and antagonistic the next. While Sakura had been practically ecstatic at that thought of soon being able to discard the rough brown shift she was wearing, eventually the subject of her return to Konoha had come up again.

Sasuke had, again, refused to let her go. And again, Sakura had retaliated by the only means available to her – words.

Karin muttered darkly under her breath beside him, and though Suigetsu couldn't quite hear the words, he was confident it was something along the lines of 'how dare she treat Sasuke that way'.

"Well...I guess you have to give up on Sasuke now," he commented, watching Sakura shriek curses upon Sasuke, down to his remotest descendant and the most removed ancestor.

"And why is that?" she practically snarled.

"It's obvious he's got a thing for Princess."

Karin scoffed. "Oh, please, he's just tolerating her."

"Yeah, well, it's obvious he 'tolerates' her a lot more than he tolerates us. If one of us hurled one of those insults he would have brought a world of hurt down on our heads. But he hasn't done anything like that with her. He lets her get away with stuff he'd never put up with from anyone else. I mean, are you going to be tossing out some of the phrases Princess is using...at Sasuke?"

"Hardly – I have a little more class than that!"

"And because you know he'd probably feel the need to impress upon you why it's not a good idea to insult him or his family. I've seen people bleed for things less insulting than what Princess says, but I've yet to see him so much as slap her."

Then he turned back to the subjects of their conversation. Their argument seemed to be winding down – Sakura was looking weary and downtrodden, while Sasuke's eyes were flintier than usual.

"You know what?" the medic said softly. "When this is over...you'll be all alone, and you'll have no one to blame but yourself."

"That doesn't bother me." But even as he said it, Sasuke knew it did. Solitude had been necessary for these past years...but he hadn't exactly welcomed it.

Something about being utterly and entirely alone reminded him too much of empty houses and bloodstained roads...

"Don't lie," Sakura whispered. "It scares you unlike anything else, doesn't it? That's why you gathered these people – not for their power or their assistance, but so you wouldn't be alone."

And though she didn't say anything because it was nothing more than a sneaking suspicion in her mind, Sakura privately wondered why Hebi seemed to remind her of the old Team 7 in more ways than one.

Sasuke, for his part, was wondering how Sakura had gotten into his mind so effortlessly. Was she performing some kind of mind-reading jutsu without his knowledge?

But then...Sakura had always seemed to know him a little too well. After all, she was the one who had been waiting for him the night he left Konoha. No one else had suspected what he would do – not even Kakashi, who had spoken to him barely hours before – so how did she?

He dismissed that thought, telling himself she had probably just had a bad feeling or something along those lines.

Because the alternative, that she really understood him that deeply, was a little frightening.

-xxx-

"Sakura is still alive."

A stunned silence followed Tsunade's proclamation, before Naruto whooped, "I knew it! I knew it! I knew she was alive!"

Sai and Kakashi blinked, one too unskilled at showing emotion and the other too used to not showing it.

"Unfortunately, our intelligence says she's with Sasuke-"

"Really?" Naruto interrupted, positively beaming. "So the bastard's coming back?"

Kakashi said nothing, but there was a certain bleakness in his eyes that made Tsunade think that he knew what she was about to say.

"She said 'unfortunately'," Sai pointed out. "So, wouldn't that mean this isn't good news?"

"Though our intelligence indicates Orochimaru is dead, Sasuke has shown no inclination to return to Konoha," Tsunade continued. "He is hunting the Akatsuki in an effort to locate Itachi...and Sakura is accompanying him against her will."

Naruto's shock was so palpable the Hokage could practically feel it echoing through the room.

"So...he's kidnapped her." Kakashi's voice was perfectly flat, perfectly controlled.

"Essentially, yes," Tsunade sighed. "Reports vary, but it's obvious Sakura was captured by Sound on her way back here from her mission, and it seems she was given to Sasuke for...very specific purposes. Apparently Orochimaru wanted a child of both Sasuke and Sakura to serve as his next vessel."

Her words fell with all the weight of a dozen anvils.

"The traitor raped Ugly?" Sai's face was its usual blank mask, but there was something unidentifiable in his eyes.

"Nothing has been confirmed," Tsunade said quietly.

What little she could see of Kakashi's skin above his mask was grey, as though he were about to be violently sick.

"No...no way!" Naruto yelped. "He wouldn't have..."

"You three will be among a group of shinobi I will dispatch to liberate her," the Hokage continued. "It won't be the usual four-man team, mainly because I anticipate a lot of problems with this mission. Your first goal will be to locate Sasuke, and I recommend you try to do so by first tracking down Itachi. And when you have found him..."

She trailed off, but she could tell they understood. Their priority was to free Sakura; everything else – including Naruto's self-proclaimed goal of dragging Sasuke back to Konoha – had to take a backseat to that.

-xxx-

"_The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love."  
-Hubert Humprey_

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye for doing a marvelous job of beta-ing!_


	11. Restraint

**Chapter 11**

**Restraint**

"_Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life." _

_-Sandra Carey_

-xxx-

"And what do we have here?" Sakura muttered. "_More_ underground bases?"

"You don't like the underground?" Juugo asked kindly.

Not for the first time, Sakura wondered at the fact that such a gentle man would be cursed with such wild, violent rages.

"I just don't like anything without windows," Sakura admitted. "Anywhere I can't see sunlight or feel the wind...it just makes me uncomfortable."

Juugo frowned. "Were you imprisoned underground once? Is that why you feel unsettled? You feel trapped?"

Sakura shrugged. "It's not that easily explained – I've always been like this. Just one of my quirks, I guess."

Though she would have felt better about the whole thing if she'd had her super strength back and could have punched out a window whenever she so chose. But the collar ensured that wasn't an option.

"I'm sorry," he said sympathetically.

Sakura smiled at him. "It's hardly your fault."

He smiled back, a little shyly, as though he didn't quite remember how friendship worked anymore.

They were currently traversing the winding corridors of what Sasuke had told them was a supply cache his family had created and controlled. It had been hidden in the middle of a ruined city.

"All these tunnels look the same," Suigetsu complained.

"Yeah, because the tunnels in Orochimaru's dens were always unique and distinct," Sakura grumbled.

"Orochimaru?" came a new, foreign voice from behind them.

Everyone turned.

At first, Sakura thought her ears had been playing tricks on her – the corridor behind them was empty. But then she looked down...and realised there were two cats sitting in the hall, their foreheads marked with kanji, dressed in clothes that marked them as animal summons. One looked rather Siamese-like, while the other resembled a tabby.

"It's been a long time," Sasuke remarked casually. "Denka, Hina."

"Well, if it ain't Sasuke," the Siamese-like one purred.

"What are you doing here?" the other asked.

"Weapons, medicine," Sasuke explained. "A few supplies...and we need a place to stay for the night."

Suigetsu had bent down, seemingly fascinated with the talking animals.

"Here, kitty, kitty," Suigetsu cooed, holding out his hands as though he were trying to coax a household pet.

Sakura rolled her eyes. If there was one thing her interactions with her slugs and Kakashi's dogs had taught her, it was that most animal summons were as intelligent as any human being...and they didn't appreciate being talked down to.

She was proven correct when the cats hissed and spat.

"They're ninja cats," Sasuke said dryly. "Not pets. If they don't like you, they bite."

"We can smell out the bad sorts," the tabby boasted, turning its nose up at Suigetsu.

"They talk _and_ they discriminate," he muttered darkly.

"They're as intelligent as you or me," Sakura said, then scoffed with a teasing grin, "Well, maybe me..."

"Oh that hurts, Princess!"

Sakura felt something brush her legs and nearly jumped, looking down to realise that the Siamese was nosing at her calf, its whiskers tickling her skin.

"Hey," she murmured. While some part of her wanted to rub the creature's ears, the way she would if any other cat had approached her, she held herself back. Ninja etiquette said you didn't touch summoned animals unless you had permission.

The cat regarded her with piercing, slit-pupil eyes for a moment. Just when Sakura was beginning to wonder if she had committed some sort of feline social faux pas, the cat's lip lifted in what was probably meant to be a smile.

"I like you," the cat declared, rubbing itself against her legs. "You may pet me if you wish," it announced (she wasn't sure if the cat was male or female), as though granting a very exclusive favour.

Sakura stifled her laugh as she bent to do as suggested. Human-like intelligence or not, cats were still cats – arrogant and rather condescending.

She was dimly aware of Sasuke bargaining with the tabby with a bottle of catnip (which nearly sent her into giggles) but focused on rubbing the Siamese's ears until it was purring up a thunderstorm. She'd always been rather fond of animals – there was just something about them...

She became aware of eyes on her and looked up to find that almost everyone in the hallway was staring at her. Karin was pointedly ignoring her (as per usual), Suigetsu looked irritated that the cat had snubbed him, Juugo was watching her interaction with the animal with something like longing, and Sasuke...

She couldn't name the expression on his face, all she knew was that it sent a jolt of heat right through her body.

The Siamese stepped away from her, and she looked down, breaking the moment.

"Come on," the cat yowled, leading the way with its tail held high. "Let's see the elder cat."

-xxx-

Sakura had never seen so many cats in one room before. Though these seemed to be the ordinary domestic kind – no ninja cats outside the two who had led them there.

Most of them were congregating around the old, white-haired woman sitting on a mat in the middle of the room. She was apparently the elder cat, and she surveyed the entire group with a critical eye as a younger woman – her granddaughter, it seemed – worked to help them find what they needed.

She was currently rummaging through chests of clothes in an effort to find a shirt that could fit Juugo. Sakura didn't think much of her chances – they'd been lucky to find pants and boots that he could pull on, but she doubted they would stumble upon a shirt big enough as well.

The cat Sakura was scratching bumped its head against her fingers, reminding her she'd been derelict in her duty while absorbed in her thoughts. The medic smiled a little and resumed rubbing the base of the feline's ears until it began purring once more.

Suigetsu was crouched on the floor beside her, apparently enjoying the fact that ordinary cats didn't discriminate in the same way ninja ones did.

"They're not bad, are they?" he mused, stroking his hand down a calico's back. "Cats, I mean."

"They're alright," Sakura said, sitting back to accommodate the animals that were clamouring for her attention. It was as though they had some sixth sense, telling them that here was a sucker for anything furry and vaguely cuddly.

"You're making friends," Suigetsu commented.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Sasuke kneel in front of the old woman as he thanked her. She turned around to give the scene her full attention, surprised to see Sasuke being so humble.

"I assume you're going after Itachi?" the old woman said in a low voice.

Sasuke said nothing, collecting a small bundle of supplies.

"To think it's come to this..." she went on, shaking her head.

"I chose my path a long time ago," Sasuke said, his tone effectively ending the conversation as he placed several notes of money on the mat in front of the old woman.

"We don't have anything big enough for this guy!" the young woman called out as she tossed away the last of the shirts.

"Just wrap him in that curtain," her grandmother called back.

While the girl was protesting that they'd paid for clothes, Juugo followed her suggestion, yanking down one of the curtains and throwing it around his torso like a wrap.

"Looks sharp on you," Sakura grinned.

The old woman surveyed the medic, a strange light in her eyes as the pink-haired kunoichi picked up the tortoiseshell that was pawing at her shift, tucking the cat in her arms like a baby. The tortoiseshell rubbed its head under her chin and purred vigorously.

"She's a good sort," the woman eventually declared, sitting back contentedly.

Sasuke wondered why it felt like she had been giving him tacit permission to court Sakura.

"Now we need to find some clothes for you," the younger woman said, addressing Sakura as the smaller woman gently lowered the cat she'd been cuddling down to the mewling masses writhing underfoot.

"These might fit you," she said, tossing dark pants and a dark shirt at Sakura.

The medic held them up, noting that the high collar would hug the base of her throat and partially cover the symbol of her servitude. She wondered if that was deliberate.

"These look nice and all," she said slowly. "But there's just one thing..."

She flipped the shirt so its back was to the room, pointing at the small Uchiha crest displayed on the back. "I'm not an Uchiha."

The woman shrugged. "It's all we have."

Sakura examined the garment and huffed a small breath through her nose.

_'Of course it's all they have,'_ she groused as she stepped behind a small curtain to change, nearly tripping over the cats that were winding around her legs.

She emerged with her brown shift tossed over her shoulder, feeling significantly better about the world now that she was wearing clothes that didn't itch. The pants were about half an inch too wide at the waist, but since the girl had provided her with a belt, that wasn't really a problem.

Sasuke could practically feel his heart rate rise a notch when Sakura came out, the Uchiha crest displayed prominently across her back. He told himself he didn't know why, and that it certainly had nothing to with the fact that to any outside observer, she would now be considered part of his family.

Sakura did her best to ignore the fact that she had Sasuke's clan symbol printed on her clothes. She was also doing her best to ignore the underlying connotations that fact brought with it – the feeling that this somehow meant they belonged with each other.

Instead, she watched Juugo interact with the cats. He was eager...but at the same time, hesitant, as though desperate to connect with something but afraid to hurt them at the same time.

Taking pity on him, Sakura tore a long strip of material from her shift and handed it to him. "Here, take one end of this."

He did so, looking a little bewildered, and she gently gripped his wrist, guiding his hand so the strip of material made a jerking, teasing motion on the ground in front of some of the cats.

"Cats like to chase things," she told him as several of them flattened themselves against the floor, their eyes tracking the strip of material as their spines seemed to coil like springs. "So you can play with them by getting them to chase something. If you keep doing this-"

One of the felines sprang at the cloth, interrupting her. Sakura jerked at Juugo's wrist, prompting him to snap the cloth out of reach as the other cats followed.

Juugo grasped the concept quickly, and in a matter of moments he was trailing the shred of her shift back and forth across the floor, laughing delightedly as the cats sprang eagerly after it.

Sakura wasn't surprised that the felines responded to Juugo so quickly – in spite of his strange rages, the blonde man was rather sweet, and animals often seemed to somehow sense these things.

"-can stay here as long as you don't get in the way!" The old woman's voice reached her ears again.

Sasuke bowed again and Sakura watched the younger woman root around, apparently looking for some futons and blankets.

"Does that mean there's a bathroom around here somewhere?" Karin asked.

The old woman pointed down the hallway. "First door on the right. Everything you need is in there – don't muddy it up."

Karin looked offended, but seemed to decide the possibility of offending their hosts wasn't worth giving up the prospect of a shower and set off without a word.

"I'm next!" Sakura declared to the room at large.

She could hear the vague sound of water running through pipes, and assumed Karin had started her shower. She listened to it with half an ear as she and Juugo played with the cats, and when it shut off she stood and made her way from the room.

She met Karin in the hall, just as the redhead was coming out of the bathroom.

"I don't know what you think you're doing...but you don't have a chance," Karin said quietly.

Sakura blinked. "Huh?"

"With Sasuke," she clarified, looking irritated. "You don't have a chance."

"This is not news to me," Sakura rejoined. "But it's not like I care much – you're welcome to him."

Sure, she was lying through her teeth with the last part, but she hoped the other woman couldn't tell. Besides, she'd been honest about the first sentence – she was under no illusions about Sasuke's regard for her. He'd made his feelings clear often enough.

"Liar," Karin sneered.

Only the half-hope that Karin was just fishing, that she didn't actually know anything, kept Sakura's face blank. "I just want a shower."

"Just as long as you understand that you don't have a chance," Karin reiterated. "I don't know why he's taking you along with us, but just remember this...he needs me, he doesn't need you. Unless, of course, you really are screwing him and he's whoring you out to Juugo and Suigetsu to keep them happy."

For the second time that day, Sakura felt something in her snap – her temper had always been one of her weak spots. If she was being honest, she could admit Karin's words had found their mark in very tender, very raw, still-bleeding emotional wounds. Although, if that had been all the woman had said, she could have probably controlled herself – Sakura had long since learned to deal with pain.

But Sakura was just sick and tired of the redhead insinuating that she was sleeping around. And she'd never been good at curbing her temper.

Her foot lashed out, knocking Karin's legs from under her and sending the other woman to the ground. Karin fell forward, her hands coming out to catch herself as Sakura darted out of the way, leaving her ample room to face-plant on the floor.

The impact knocked the wind out of the redhead, and before she could even try to rise Sakura planted a knee in her back to keep her down, one hand twisting in the other woman's wet hair to keep her head still as she pushed two fingers against the vertebrae in her neck.

"I don't appreciate those sorts of insinuations," she said conversationally. "So, the next time you want to mock me, or imply I'm a whore...think of this."

Karin began to struggle, making choked noises of fury, and Sakura pressed her fingers harder into her neck. "I have excellent chakra control...enough so that I can form chakra scalpels while wearing this stupid collar. So stop moving, and shut up!"

Karin froze. If Sakura was telling the truth...then the fingers digging into her neck had just gone from an annoyance to a real, deadly threat.

"And, considering I've trained as a medic-nin, it means I know just where to cut," the pink-haired woman went on. "For example, if I cut here..." she let her fingers drift down to Karin's lower back. "Well...let me put it to you this way – you'll need to find a reliable supplier of adult diapers. If I cut you here..." her hand crept higher. "You'll be paralysed from the waist down. Do you think Sasuke will take you along when you're in a wheelchair?"

Karin shivered, but Sakura paid her no mind as her hand drifted along the vertebrae of Karin's neck. The human body never ceased to fascinate her – as a whole, it was often unbelievably strong, capable of enduring incredible trials...but target the individual parts and pieces, and it suddenly became extremely vulnerable, the smallest injury causing disaster.

"If I slice here...well, forget the wheelchair, you'll be lucky to be able to turn your head. And here..." Sakura jabbed her fingers into the back of Karin's skull, emphasizing her point. "Well, this is the brainstem – it controls your breathing, keeps your heart beating, that sort of thing. I probably don't have to tell you what happens if I decide to carve it up."

"Sasuke would kill you," Karin hissed.

"Maybe so, but you'd still be dead."

Sakura held her position a moment, then eased off. "And that's only a fraction of what I know. I could name hundreds of points on your body that I could use to use to cripple you, kill you, or cause you unbearable pain. So the next time you feel the urge to mouth off, think of that."

Sakura walked into the bathroom and shut the door before Karin could make any retort. While she didn't really regret strong-arming the woman – she had become sick and tired of her comments – she was beginning to feel like a bit of a bully.

On some level, it was rather disconcerting. Her temper had always been a weak spot for her, but lately it felt like it was on a hair-trigger, that she was ready to fly off the handle at the slightest provocation.

She'd chosen to focus on fury rather than despair, but no choice came without consequences.

Still, a nice, hot shower would make her feel better. Especially if she could sing in it.

-xxx-

"Princess is a lot of things, but 'good singer' ain't one of them," Suigetsu muttered, his hands clamped over his ears.

The futons and blankets Hebi were going to use had been moved to another room...a room that was separated from the bathroom by a wall that seemed to be made of only a few layers of paper.

Sasuke paid no attention to Suigetsu's complaints or the cats that had followed Juugo to this room and were now padding around underfoot. He was occupied with checking and double-checking the equipment he had obtained. Anticipation curled with him, laced with dread – this was it. In the morning, they'd leave this place...and he would be finally taking the first steps to actually hunting down Itachi. And then...

But he was broken from his dark thoughts when Sakura suddenly belted out a particularly raucous verse of a song he'd never heard. But the lyrics he could make out and the general rhythm of the song seemed to imply it was quite upbeat.

Sasuke blinked at the wall the sounds were emanating from, wondering why he didn't find it as irritating as Suigetsu obviously did. Juugo was too absorbed in the cats to be concerned with it (and Sasuke suspected he wouldn't complain about Sakura's singing even if it did bother him), while Karin was strangely silent, sitting on her futon and glancing towards the direction of the bathroom every so often, rubbing the back of her neck.

He didn't know why he didn't find it irritating. Her singing was horribly off-key – even the echo provided by the walls of the shower couldn't make it sound passable. But at the same time, it was so...Sakura. She was singing in the shower. She probably knew she couldn't sing, but she was doing it anyway, because she enjoyed it – the obviously cheery tone of her voice left that in no doubt.

The singing stopped, accompanied by the sound of water shutting off and Suigetsu's theatrical sigh of relief. A few moments later, Sakura strode into the room, tugging a brush (Sasuke assumed she'd picked it up in the bathroom) through her damp hair.

"Princess, has anyone ever told you that your singing absolutely sucks?" Suigetsu asked bluntly.

Sakura paused in mid-stroke of the brush. "How did you know I was singing?"

"The wall between this room and the bathroom is about as thick as tissue paper."

"Oh," Sakura flushed, and Sasuke wondered why he found her half-embarrassed, half-flustered expression so endearing. "I...uh...sorry – I didn't mean to subject you guys to my singing..."

Sakura was mortified. She knew her singing was bad – Sai had informed her of it on several occasions – which was why she only sang in the shower, where no one else could hear.

So she sat on her futon and dropped her eyes to the mattress as she dragged the brush through her hair, hoping the heat she could feel on her cheeks would recede.

"By the way, I've meant to ask you about your hair," Suigetsu went on. "I mean, how'd you end up with pink?"

"This coming from the guy with white hair," Sakura chuckled. "But there's no explanation besides the obvious – I got my hair from my mother. A pretty weird colour, I grant you-"

"I think it's pretty," Juugo interjected softly as he stood and made his way to the door, obviously on his way to take his own turn in the bathroom.

The heat in Sakura's cheeks came back with a vengeance. "Thanks."

Juugo smiled at her and shut the door. A few moments later, Sakura heard the shower in the bathroom start up quite clearly – Suigetsu had been right, the walls were paper-thin.

Karin was staring after him, but didn't say a word. Sakura caught the redhead's eye, but Karin quickly dropped her gaze. Their little confrontation had apparently taken some of the starch out of her, but Sakura knew better than to hope it would last long.

It didn't seem like Karin had gone running to Sasuke for help, either...but she was probably reluctant to admit Sakura had gotten the better of her even with the collar on.

Suigetsu looked like he was on the verge of laughing as he stared at the closed door. "I think Juugo's got a crush on Princess!"

Sasuke's hand slipped on the kunai he was sharpening, nearly cutting his thumb.

"Leave him alone," Sakura said severely, running her fingers through her hair to check for any residual tangles. She felt instinctively protective of Juugo – while the man was at least three times her size, his strange innocence and naivety in the way of human interaction stirred vague protective impulses in her. "If you tease him about it and upset him, I'll...I'll...I don't know what I'll do, but you won't like it!"

Suigetsu's grin softened. "I've said it before and I'll say it again...you're a real soft touch, Princess."

"I suppose so," she said softly, petting one of the cats that had wandered over to her.

She didn't really think Juugo had a crush on her – a lot of his behaviour could simply be explained by a lack of practice in human interaction, coupled with the fact she was the only one on the team who actually made an effort to get to know him – but she knew protesting wouldn't have stopped Suigetsu. She thought her appeal might have, though – at the very least, she'd made it clear that if he used Juugo's alleged crush to taunt the big man, she'd take revenge somehow.

Though she didn't want to – and actually tried to stop herself – Sakura glanced at Sasuke, trying to determine his reaction to the news that Juugo could be infatuated with her.

But he was determinedly sharpening a set of kunai, his expression set and his gaze never once lifting to hers.

-xxx-

"Are you sure you haven't stuck a piece of gum in here or something?" Suigetsu muttered, twisting his head to get a better view of the collar's lock.

"I'm sure," Sakura said. "Why?"

When she'd made her nightly attack on the collar, Suigetsu had mentioned he'd done a spot of lock-picking back in his youth, and had offered to help her. Sakura had accepted eagerly (despite Sasuke's obvious scowl) but they had yet to get anywhere.

"This thing isn't sliding in far enough," the white-haired man said bluntly, lifting the senbon he had been using. "It's like there's some sort of physical block against it."

Sakura blinked. That would certainly explain why she had been unable to pick the lock. "But that makes no sense – if the senbon can't slide in far enough, how was the key supposed to?"

"I'm just calling it like I see it, Princess."

Sakura nodded and watched Suigetsu re-shape his fingers – he had deliberately thinned them in an effort to gain more fine-tuned manipulation of the senbon. "Hey, since your body is technically made of water, and it basically takes on the shape you want it to..."

"Yeah?"

"Could you change genders? Like, morph breasts or something?"

Suigetsu stared at her. "It's not something I've really tried to do, Princess. Plus, it would be kinda weird, don't you think?"

"I guess." Sakura scratched idly at the collar. "Well, at least you tried to get this thing off me, right?"

"Could I have a look?" Juugo asked quietly.

"Knock yourself out," she offered, tilting her head back.

Large fingers traced the metal lock curiously, bracketing the smooth steel and flexing gently as though testing its strength.

"I am strong enough that I could probably pull this off you," he said in a low voice.

"I sense there's a 'but' coming," Sakura quipped.

"But the force required to do so would probably break your neck in the bargain."

The medic sighed. "Okay...so no pulling it off me, no picking the lock...anyone got any other bright ideas?"

"Let me see it."

Sakura started, turning to face Sasuke. "You want to look at it?"

He nodded. Juugo moved away from her and Sasuke took his place, sliding down onto the floor opposite her.

Sakura was surprised when he rested his hands on either side of her neck, the slight pressure of his thumbs against her jaw urging her to tilt her head upwards. His eyes washed red, the Sharingan spinning lazily as he examined the circle of leather and steel.

"There is chakra moving through it," he informed her.

And it wasn't her own; the collar had been locked by some kind of jutsu. Sasuke was finding it difficult to distinguish exactly how the jutsu worked – his Sharingan allowed him to see Sakura's chakra as well, and the presence of the collar was causing it to behave rather strangely. Her chakra was roiling and seething inside her like turbulent water seeking an exit, and the glow of her energy was so strong it easily overwhelmed the small throb from the collar.

He knew it was there – he could see it like a shadow flitting in front of the sun – but he couldn't make out exactly what it was doing.

"Karin, do you have any experience with these kinds of collars?" he asked.

Karin shook her head, glancing at Sakura resentfully but remaining mute.

Almost without thinking, Sasuke found his hands slipping around to cradle the back of Sakura's head, urging her to tilt it forwards.

She did so without complaint, and the unspoken faith in that gesture – it took a lot of trust for a ninja to willingly bare the back of their neck in such a position – nearly took his breath away.

Sakura shivered slightly as she felt Sasuke's fingers combing her hair away from her neck, and she wondered at the fact she wasn't more tense. She was blatantly displaying one of her body's most vital points to him, in a position she would find it difficult to fight back in...and yet somehow, she wasn't worried.

Wasn't it only a few weeks ago that she'd been nervous about lying down while he was sitting?

Sasuke brushed the last of her hair away – the damp strands were softer and thicker than he anticipated, and the slight moisture made them cling to the skin of his fingers and Sakura's neck. For a moment, a crazy impulse seized him to bend over and press his lips to the bare skin beneath his hands.

He didn't dwell on the thought, choosing instead to stare at the slightly raised portion of metal holding the toxin that was currently crippling Sakura.

"Do you have any idea what the toxin is?" he found himself asking. She was a medic, after all – had she come across a drug that could affect chakra?

"I have too many ideas," Sakura told him, wondering if Sasuke was consciously aware of the fact that his fingers were stroking the nape of her neck. "Do you have any idea of the staggering amounts of drugs that affect chakra? They tend to vary in strength and symptom, of course, but even taking that into account I still couldn't guess what I'm being given. I have no idea how much I'm being given at any one time, I have no idea if it's a pure solution or if it's diluted, and even if it is diluted there's no way to tell how much..."

She finished with a shake of her head so gentle it barely moved her neck beneath his fingers. "So, in other words, there's no way to tell what this collar is giving me."

"Hn."

Sasuke suddenly realised his fingers were stroking back and forth across the nape of her neck. He snatched his hands back and stood up, placing some distance between their bodies as he wondered exactly how long he had been doing that and if she was going to read anything into it.

But when she sat upright once more, she didn't seem perturbed in the slightest – just arranged her short hair over her shoulders once more and went back to talking to Suigetsu and Juugo.

And Sasuke was left to wonder why her non-reaction had made him feel strangely disappointed.

-xxx-

That night, when the room was lit only by a single, guttering candle and all the others were asleep, Sasuke rolled over in his futon to study Sakura.

She was on her side, her face turned towards him, her expression peaceful and relaxed, a hint of a smile lurking in the curve of her lips. Many of the cats had curled up beside her in small heaps of fur strewn across the futon. Several were dozing at her feet, and many had taken advantage of the hollows provided by the bend of her knees and the curve of her spine. A large bundle of black and white fur had tucked itself beneath her chin, and another was crowning her head. Small, wet ruffles in her hair showed where the feline had tried to groom her.

Sasuke stared, trying to pinpoint what was it was about her that made her so fascinating – what drew people so.

And animals, too, for that matter, he reflected, looking again at the bundles of fur scattered across Sakura's futon. There were a few cats sleeping with Juugo, but none had ventured near Suigetsu, Karin or himself.

So...what was it about her?

She was pretty, yes...but she wasn't the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Her eyes were an unusually deep shade of green...but so were many other people's. Her pink hair was certainly eye-catching...but it couldn't be just that, could it? There had to be something that could explain why people were so hopelessly drawn to her.

Suigetsu – a bloodthirsty missing-nin – had spent most of their acquaintance teasing her with a gentleness he'd never shown to anyone else. Juugo seemed totally devoted to her.

The more Sasuke thought about it, the more he came to realise that there was something intangible about Sakura that just drew people to her. Naruto had been the same, come to think of it, just...louder and more obvious about it.

The cat beneath her chin shifted in its sleep and Sakura mumbled something under her breath as she drifted close to wakefulness before slipping off again. A small hand slipped from the cover and half-curled against the pillow.

It looked deceptively delicate, until Sasuke's eyes made out the callouses on her palm, formed from years of handling weapons, and the scar on her thumb, perhaps a result of biting down a little too deeply or too often to call a summon.

Aside from the scars, her skin was smooth, the barest dips and hollows hinting at the taut muscle beneath, like velvet laid over steel. Without his permission, his mind flashed back to when he'd barged into the bathroom, thinking she'd vanished, and found her in front of the mirror, hair damp, skin glistening, the thin, wet towel clinging to every inch of her body...

While he knew, logically, he'd seen far less on women with far more, in that moment, arousal had hit him like a bowling ball. He had practically run from the room in an effort to get out of Sakura's sight before it decided to manifest itself physically.

He was feeling that same arousal curl within him now. Except this time, it was mixed with a strange feeling of responsibility – as though the sleeping woman he was watching was something to be treasured carefully.

Sakura smiled a little in her sleep and her arm flexed like she was reaching for something.

And for a moment, Sasuke was gripped with a wild, desperate urge to reach out and brush his fingers down the line of her arm, to trace the veins that lay beneath the skin...

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke's eyes jerked to Sakura's face, startled to see two green eyes peering sleepily back at him.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing," he said abruptly, turning over in the futon and presenting his back to her. "Go back to sleep. It's nothing."

_'It's nothing,'_ he told himself. _'It's nothing...'_

But he knew it was a lie.

-xxx-

"_For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it."_

– _Ivan Panin_

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye for beta-ing this!_

_And thanks to everyone who leaves anonymous reviews. I can't reply to you, but just know that I really appreciate the feedback!_


	12. Connecting

**Chapter 12**

**Connecting**

"_We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty." _

_-Maya Angelou _

-xxx-

Sakura took a deep breath, grateful to taste fresh air on her tongue. It was good to be out of the tunnels.

After a quick breakfast and a last minute check of their supplies, Hebi had left the Uchiha hideout. Most of them had acquired new clothes, and all five were currently wearing black cloaks that Sakura assumed were meant to be some sort of unofficial uniform. Apparently, this was where the hunting-Itachi-down phase of Sasuke's plan came into action.

"So...where are we headed?" Sakura asked.

"To the Akatsuki," Sasuke said.

She rolled her eyes. "Gee, could you be a little more cryptic with that?"

He ignored her, and she frowned. He went from stroking her neck and staring at while she slept (when she'd awoken with his eyes on her she was fairly certain that was what he was doing) to outright ignoring her?

She decided not to think about it for the moment and to just enjoy the feeling of being above ground again.

She noted with amusement that a few birds were hovering above Juugo. The blonde man extended one large arm towards them, smiling gently as one settled on his wrist.

Sakura blinked. She'd never seen anyone do that with a wild bird before. Was this another of Juugo's strange abilities?

Juugo seemed to notice the direction of her gaze. "Do you want to hold one?"

"Can I?" she asked timidly. "I mean, if I'm going to scare it or something..."

"It's fine," he said, extending the hand the bird perched on towards her arm, tilting it slightly to urge the bird to move to Sakura's wrist.

A small flutter of wings, and Sakura felt tiny claws prick her skin. The bird observed her from its perch with small dark eyes.

"Wow..." she breathed. "How do you do this?"

Juugo shrugged.

"Better hope it doesn't shit on your hand, Princess," Suigetsu quipped.

Sakura let out a reluctant laugh.

"We're going," Sasuke barked, feeling needled somehow by her casual interaction with Juugo and Suigetsu.

Sakura rolled her eyes but started after him obediently, deliberately jostling her wrist so the bird took flight and winged back to Juugo.

-xxx-

It was only when they were practically on top of the small village that Sakura learned Sasuke was going to check out a small hamlet that had recently been having difficulties with a group that sounded very much like the Akatsuki, and they were going to meet with the lord. Sakura still didn't know how Sasuke had gained entrance, but figured the Uchiha name was a powerful one even outside of ninja circles.

Sakura's immediate impression of the lord had simply been 'creep'. She knew a lot of lords were fair, decent people who tried to consider the needs and wants of their subjects, but some of them were obnoxious idiots who were too accustomed to their money buying them anything and everything they wanted.

Unfortunately, it seemed this lord was one of the latter. Sakura swore she could actually feel her skin crawl when the man's speculative eye had drifted up and down her body. Fortunately, he had seemed to find Karin more appealing than her, and had been quite content to ogle her for the rest of the conversation, while Sasuke masqueraded them as a mercenary group who had heard he was having a problem and could deal with it (for a fee, of course).

So when they finally retired to the small hut he'd provided for them, Sakura was nothing but relieved. Sure, they hadn't actually settled anything (there would be more haggling in the morning over the exact nature of the problem and how it would be solved and a dozen other things she couldn't really care about at the moment), but she could rest for now.

And try not to think about the fact that this might very well lead Sasuke straight to Itachi.

"I think he liked you, Princess," Suigetsu commented. "He was eyeing you up something fierce."

"He liked Karin better," she said absently.

The redhead smirked, as though the lord's regard for her had been indicative of some sort of personal victory. "He just knows beauty when he sees it!" she declared, glancing at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye.

The more Sakura interacted with Karin, the more the other woman reminded her of Sasuke's old fangirls back in Konoha. While she was clearly very smart, and her ability to detect chakra was one of the most impressive Sakura had ever seen...she tended to behave rather childishly in Sasuke's presence.

"Well, there's no accounting for taste," Suigetsu muttered.

"Shut up!" Karin screeched, smashing her fist into the side of his head. "No one asked you!"

Sakura flinched when Suigetsu's head dissolved into a wash of water for one brief moment before reforming. She had yet to get past the sheer creepiness of seeing parts of his body dissolve. Plus, the whole process looked like it had to _hurt_...

"They never do anything but fight..." Juugo reflected.

"Just leave them to it," Sakura sighed, long experience with bickering teammates telling her the best course of action was to just let it run its course. As long as they didn't start tearing down the hut, she really didn't have the energy or the inclination to get involved.

Sasuke seemed to be much of the same mind – he was already commandeering one corner of their lodging for himself, ignoring Suigetsu and Karin.

She tuned into the argument just long enough to hear Suigetsu's sneer about Karin 'snuggling up to the lord', when Sasuke cut in.

"If he is attracted to Karin, it is simply another avenue we can work on him from."

Sakura was rather startled by his line of thought. At times, Sasuke seemed so devoid of sexual desires it was surprising that he should recognise it in another person.

Suigetsu snickered. "Why do I get the feeling you'd be singing a very different tune if the guy had been ogling Princess?"

Sasuke pretended not to hear him.

But Suigetsu's words held an uncomfortable ring of truth. If the lord's attention had gravitated more towards Sakura, Sasuke knew he wouldn't have considered it as possible leverage, however slight. Partly because he knew what Sakura would say to him if he told her to flirt with the lord, and it wouldn't be flattering...but mostly because the mental picture of another man drooling over Sakura caused a strange possessiveness to take root in his gut.

"You have a scar," Juugo said quietly, breaking Sasuke from his thoughts.

The Uchiha turned. Sakura had frozen in the act of stretching her hands high over her head, which had hiked her shirt up above her navel, revealing the smooth skin of her stomach...and a collection of scars decorating her flesh. Most of them were faint and thin, the normal relics of ninja duty...but there was one – a wide, vertical line – that was still the dull pink of a wound inflicted in the last few months, and the callous tissue it was building was wide enough to indicate a very deep injury.

It was strange to think of Sakura as having battle wounds...and yet, that was what that scar clearly was. A battle wound.

It took Sasuke several moments to realise that Juugo was on the opposite side of Sakura, and was therefore looking at another scar. He shifted just enough to glimpse another line of pink skin...in almost the exact same spot as the scar on her back.

As though someone had run her through.

"You were stabbed?" Suigetsu asked, apparently having spotted the same scars.

"Not fast enough to get out of the way?" Karin scoffed

"Actually he was going for someone else and I got in the way," Sakura said, deliberately vague as she tugged the shirt down again.

"And you were impaled," Juugo commented.

"But, hey, I thought you were a healer," Suigetsu commented. "I mean, I'm sure you could patch yourself up, and I thought most healing jutsus didn't leave scars."

Sakura nodded. "Unless the blade is poisoned. Which this one was."

Karin was silent – for once, apparently unable to come up with a scathing comment. Sasuke wasn't saying anything either, but when Sakura risked a glance in his direction – just to see how he took the news that she didn't hang back on the sidelines anymore – there was something smouldering in his eyes. She couldn't identify it, but it made her feel uncomfortable, whatever it was, and she dropped her gaze.

-xxx-

Sasuke opened his eyes, wondering what had awakened him. Then he heard a muffled giggle, and slowly turned over on his futon to find Sakura and Juugo at the window, their profiles edged in silvery moonlight, with an owl perched on the windowsill between them.

"-and you really understand them?" Sakura was whispering. "For real? Like they were talking to you?"

"Not exactly," Juugo corrected. "It's not like talking – at least, not what you would consider talking. Their minds grasp very basic, fundamental concepts only – they don't understand sentences, but they understand the subject of the sentence...does that make sense?"

"In a way. So, you're sort of talking to them, but it's more like some sort of telepathy thing than anything else...like you're sending them pictures or signposts or something like that."

"Something like that."

"That's pretty cool."

Her soft laugh followed her rather schoolyard statement, so quiet it was more like rapid, huffing breaths than an actual chuckle.

"So...why are you up?" Sakura asked, half-turning to to Juugo, enough so that Sasuke could see the honest concern in her eyes.

"I don't sleep well," Juugo admitted. "I have...nightmares. And the...urges...make me restless."

Sakura nodded, apparently unconcerned at the fact that the huge man beside her had just admitted to being sleepless as a result of murderous impulses.

"There's something I wanted to ask you..." she began slowly as Juugo stroked a finger down the bird's chest. "I didn't ask you before, because it seems kinda personal to ask this, away from the hospital and everything..."

Juugo gave her a puzzled glance.

"Well...would you let me examine you? I mean, with the collar on, I might not be able to do much to help you, but I might be able to find out something that could help you with your...urges..."

"...You really think you could?" Juugo's voice was small, the tone of someone who was far too used to dead hopes.

"I'll try," Sakura said, not wanting to make promises she might not be able to keep. "I'll do my very best."

Juugo nodded, still looking hesitant and disbelieving. Sakura reached out and gently touched his temple, and the soft light of pure chakra began to gather around her hands.

"Is it safe to do this with the collar on?" the blonde man asked, looking concerned.

"I'll just be examining you – I won't have to use much chakra."

"But-"

"Shhh – let me concentrate."

Juugo subsided, and Sakura's eyes took on a strangely glazed expression, as though she were looking through the man's skin to the blood and muscle and bone beneath.

The moment dragged on, and just when Sasuke was beginning to feel his eyelids droop again, Sakura drew her hands away.

"It's action seems much like adrenaline," she murmured, apparently half to Juugo and half to herself. "But there are other compounds present...almost like some sort of super-charged growth hormone, but it's more than that..."

She shook her head. "I'll try again another time – I had trouble grasping it now, it seems to be ebbing..."

Juugo nodded. "The urges are starting to die. They come and go...but they are never quiet for long. And eventually..."

"They just build and build until you snap," Sakura finished, rather sadly.

There was a pause, and Juugo seemed to hesitate before speaking again. "You said I reminded you of a friend..."

"Huh? Oh, yeah..."

"May I ask who? Is there someone else...like me?"

Sakura's heart squeezed. "No, not quite like you. It's more complicated than that..." She hesitated, her urge to connect with Juugo wrestling with the ninja instinct to protect her knowledge of her comrades when away from her village.

"He has something inside him...like your urges...but it's actually a separate entity. And while this...entity...can give him enough power to stomp pretty much any opponent into the ground like a stray cockroach...the more power he takes, the more he loses himself."

Sasuke knew she was talking about Naruto.

"Is that why you left?" Juugo asked, not sounding accusing, only curious.

"I did not leave him!" Sakura hissed. "I'd be at his side right now if Sasuke would let me go!"

Another pause, this one much heavier. Sakura was frowning, and Sasuke tried to ignore the twinge of guilt at the sight.

"You really are being held against your will?" Juugo asked, and there was a hint of anger in his voice. "I mean, you were arguing with Sasuke yesterday, but I thought perhaps he was saying he would not take you somewhere..."

"No, I've been kidnapped. So if I try to escape, do me a favour and don't try to stop me."

"Sasuke is truly holding you against your will.." This time there was more than a hint of anger in Juugo's voice.

Sakura smiled. Juugo's obvious anger on her behalf was rather touching, but she didn't want him antagonising Sasuke over it. She had the feeling that Hebi was the first time Juugo had experienced any sort of human contact in a very long time, and she didn't want to jeopardize that.

"Yeah, but don't argue with him about it. He seems to think he has his reasons, though I must admit I'd love to hear what they are."

Juugo looked slightly mollified, but he was still frowning.

And Sakura found herself feeling very touched. It struck her that Juugo was the first person to really object to her captivity on her behalf – Karin's protests had nothing to do with Sakura's wellbeing, and while Suigetsu was aware she was being held against her will, he didn't try to change that situation.

Juugo was the first person who seemed as angry over her captivity as she was, and on impulse, Sakura leaned forward and hugged him, resting her head against his chest.

"But thanks for caring," she whispered.

Sasuke had the distinct feeling that he was intruding on a private moment, but something in him didn't want to look away.

Their embrace looked strange, mainly because of the contrasts between them. Sakura would have needed an extra two or three inches in height to make Juugo's collarbone, and when the large blonde awkwardly wrapped his arms around Sakura – slowly, as though afraid he might hurt her somehow – almost her entire torso was hidden by his limbs.

Sakura held the hug for a moment, feeling the gentle hesitancy in Juugo's hold, as though he wasn't quite sure how to return the embrace. Then she pulled away, smothering a rising yawn with her hand.

"Well, as much as I like chatting with you and your friend," she gestured to the owl on the windowsill, "I think I need to get to sleep again."

"Why did you wake up?" There was nothing but gentle curiosity in Juugo's voice, and Sakura smiled.

"Don't really know," she shrugged. "I just did. I have nights like that sometimes."

Sasuke closed his eyes as Sakura turned around, hearing her bedclothes rustle as she slipped between them once more.

"Goodnight, Juugo..." it was little more than a sleepy mumble.

"Goodnight, Sakura."

When Sasuke risked opening his eyes again, Sakura was dead to the world and Juugo was staring out at the night sky, his face grave.

-xxx-

Sasuke woke again when dawn was just beginning to colour the sky. It was with some surprise that he noticed that Sakura was already awake, sitting casually on the windowsill, one leg dangling into the room, swinging slowly as though she were dabbling it in some invisible pool.

It was her face that was the most arresting. There was a strange expression of peace and reflection painted across it, like the face of some goddess contemplating the human race.

"I'm not escaping, Sasuke, so don't bother getting up," she said softly, without turning around.

Sasuke didn't reply. He rose silently and made his way to the window, trying to determine what Sakura found so fascinating. But she was just looking at the sunrise, a sad smile pulling on her lips.

And for the first time, Sasuke realised how much she'd changed. He'd known – intellectually – that she'd changed, but while he'd _known_ it, he'd always suppressed and smothered any true acknowledgment of it...any true realisation of the fact that the woman who stared into the dawn was not the same girl he'd left behind on a bench all those years ago.

This was a woman who lived in the thick of battle, instead of standing on the sidelines. This was a woman who saw obstacles as things to conquer instead of things to cry about. This was a woman who extended her hand and her heart to outcasts, instead of ridiculing them along with everyone else. This was a woman who gave insult for insult, who openly questioned him rather than accepting his words as gospel.

This was woman who repaid his indifference with indifference of her own, instead of love.

"What's the point of all this, Sasuke?" she asked quietly, her voice a sad whisper. "Why bring me along? I can barely perform a passable healing with this damn collar on, I can't use my chakra-based strength...and you _certainly_ aren't having sex with me. So why? You've never wanted anything to do with me before...why the sudden change of heart?"

There was accusation in her voice, barely covering the bitterness beneath it.

Sasuke shifted his jaw, struck with the sudden urge to deny her thinly-veiled barb. He hadn't wanted 'nothing to do with her' when they were genin. Yes, she had been annoying at first – they'd all been irritating...but eventually, he'd come to care for them.

They were his friends.

_Had been_ his friends! They weren't anymore – past tense, past tense...

"I had to bring you along," he settled on saying.

Sakura's eyes were sad, and for a moment, just a split second, Sasuke wanted to stroke her hair, to touch her cheek – to do something to cheer her up. But he didn't know how to begin – he specialised in putting people down, not building them up – so he did nothing.

And for the first time, this inability to offer comfort to another human being made him feel strangely inadequate. As though he'd failed some crucial test.

"But _why?_" she asked again. Her voice was small and pained – Sasuke would have preferred fury.

And the truth was out of his mouth before he could stop it. "You're vulnerable with the collar on. I can't remove it, and I can't let you wander around without protection."

Sakura gaped at him – she couldn't help it. That had been the last reason she would have thought of.

It was also a reason that sounded dangerously like he cared.

_'Maybe he does...'_ came the involuntary thought. _'You have to admit, he's been acting rather...protective...lately.'_

A small seed of hope flowered within her. Perhaps Sasuke's bonds to Konoha weren't as broken as he liked to think. If nothing else, he'd shown that he felt responsible for her (even if the suggestion that she was incapable of taking care of herself made her want to throttle him).

While Sakura wasn't quite ready to forgive him for dragging her off with him, she felt some of her icy anger melt, thawed by the hint of hope that maybe her and Naruto's efforts hadn't been in vain.

Sasuke turned away suddenly, but Sakura wasn't too surprised – she had a feeing those brief sentences had filled Sasuke's emotional revelations quota for the entire week. Maybe the month.

Suigetsu's theatrical groaning as he rose would have shattered their peace anyway. Juugo blinked awake (apparently having dozed off in the corner at some point in the night), and Karin muttered angrily about pre-dawn risings.

"When's breakfast?" were the first words out of Suigetsu's mouth.

"Later," Sasuke snapped. "Karin and I are going to speak to the lord again."

Sakura shook her head in exasperation. Of course he was eager to go – he had a possible lead on Itachi, and that was like dangling sausages in front of a bloodhound.

-xxx-

_'And now it's raining,'_ Sakura thought venomously, tugging the hood of the cloak she was wearing over her head.

The skies had opened up a few hours after they'd left the village behind. Apparently the lord had pointed Sasuke and Karin towards an area where Akatsuki had often been sighted. Sakura couldn't guess why – it seemed rather desolate to her.

But then, that was just her. Maybe they had some secret base somewhere around here – underground, as seemed to be the trend with hideouts lately.

Sakura glanced up at the dark clouds overhead, and a small, homesick part of her couldn't help but wonder if it was raining in Konoha.

-xxx-

"This is pretty lousy weather," Kakashi commented, glancing at upwards at the grey clouds which were currently pouring rain onto their party.

A party that consisted of Naruto, Sai, Yamato, Shino, Kiba and Hinata, all dressed in heavy, waterproof cloaks and ready to set out. One of Jiraiya's many sources had mentioned that Sasuke and Sakura had been sighted in a village on the outskirts of Fire Country, and this was the team Tsunade had dispatched to liberate her apprentice.

Naruto's eyes were fierce and hard, staring into the rain as though he had some personal vendetta against it. "Who cares about a little bit of rain? Let's go!"

Kakashi couldn't help noticing that although Naruto had not been elected leader of the group, everyone automatically moved off, responding to the determination and inherent authority in his voice. He didn't bother pointing out that he had been placed in charge, choosing instead to step out as well without complaint.

He had enough to think about.

It was disconcerting to think that this mission, if successful, would involve freeing Sakura...from Sasuke's clutches. Kakashi had done his best not to dwell on the guilt that festered in his gut when he thought of the boy he had taught – the boy he had entrusted the Chidori to – betraying Konoha, willing going to Orochimaru and learning those dark, twisted techniques.

But now he couldn't stop thinking about it. Because Sasuke had – to all appearances – kidnapped Sakura. From what Naruto and Sakura had told him, he had been perfectly willing to cut Naruto down the last time they'd met...so if Sakura was still alive, Sasuke had to have some reason for keeping her alive.

And Kakashi didn't want to think too hard about what those reasons might be. He wanted to think that Sasuke couldn't be abusing Sakura...but common sense told him otherwise. Who knew how the Uchiha had changed over two years spent in Orochimaru's custody? Who knew what he was like now?

But even while he fretted over the state of the pink-haired medic, some part of Kakashi couldn't help mourning the twelve year old he had known. Because if he really had raped Sakura...then Kakashi knew that meant the boy that Sasuke had been – cold and disdainful, yet beneath it all, protective of the people he cared for – was long-dead.

-xxx-

"_Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live." -Norman Cousins_

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye for beta-ing this._


	13. Choices

**Chapter 13**

**Choices**

"_The heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of."_

_-Blaise Pascal _

-xxx-

"They were sighted around here," Kakashi said as the ninja party clattered to a halt on a rooftop.

He glanced around at their surroundings, but there were no overt signs of ninja presence – but then, he hadn't really expected there to be.

At least it had stopped raining.

"We'll make this our starting point," he went on. "And we'll fan out in all directions to search the surrounding five kilometers. Our wireless communication won't reach that far, so for this mission, most of you will have two of my dog summons with you at all times."

With that, Kakashi bent down and summoned his animals, calling a pack of dogs onto the roof among them. He hoped whoever had built the roof had done a good, stable job.

"Kiba has Akamaru, so he doesn't need another companion," the silver-haired ninja continued as the dogs paired off with Sai and Shino. "And I'll take Pakkun. Naruto, since you're Akatsuki's target, you'll be accompanied by Yamato and Hinata in addition to one of my summons. Is that clear?"

Naruto nodded, glancing at the dark-haired girl next to him. Hinata offered him a shy smile.

"Alright, you'll be following the scents of Sasuke and Sakura, but should they ever divide, your first priority is to track Sakura. And if any of you encounter the Akatsuki, flee on sight and return here."

He gestured, and the party scattered – appropriately – like leaves in the wind.

-xxx-

Sakura watched Juugo and Suigetsu jump off into the trees around them with a sigh. There went her conversation-buddies. Sasuke had apparently deemed it prudent for them to split up, and while Sakura had a half-hearted hope she would be allowed to go off on her own and thus escape, she wasn't putting a lot of stock in it.

"Sasuke..." Sakura's attention was drawn by Karin cuddling up to Sasuke's side, her voice taking on a distinctly flirtatious tone. "I've wanted to be alone with you for a while – just send the little girl along now..."

"You have to go too," Sasuke observed dryly.

"What about her?" Karin huffed, pointing at Sakura. "Is she going?"

"No. She stays with me."

Sakura sighed – she thought so. No opportunity to escape here.

After all, even if Sasuke had been unusually clear about his motives in taking her along (they were complete bullshit, of course – _she could take care of herself!_), that didn't mean she still wasn't going to jump at any chance she was given to get back home.

"Why? What makes her so special?"

"I'm the only one who can keep her from escaping," Sasuke said curtly.

He knew it was true. Karin resented Sakura so much she would probably just let her go. Suigetsu liked her too much to really try to stop her – he might protest, but Sasuke doubted he'd actually fight to stop her leaving. And Juugo...

Well, Sasuke had detected a touch of resentment from the large blonde since his conversation with Sakura last night. If Sakura told him she was trying to escape, Juugo was so devoted to her he'd probably _help_ her.

Karin walked off in a huff, and Sakura tried not to feel pleased by Sasuke's obvious disdain for the woman. If anything, she should be feeling rather sorry for Karin – she had yet to learn that her behaviour got nowhere with Sasuke, and Sakura knew firsthand that gaining such knowledge was painful.

Rejection always was.

They'd made their way to the edge of the forest when Sasuke suddenly stopped, so suddenly Sakura nearly ran into him. She was about to ask him what was wrong...when she saw the set expression on his face, the way his head was slightly turned to stare at the trees behind them...and guessed that someone was on their trail.

She was proven correct when Sasuke slowly turned to face the forest, his arm sweeping out to urge her to stand behind him. Sakura considered holding her ground stubbornly, then decided it was better to see exactly what was stalking them before she tried to act the part of the valiant heroine.

"Who's there?"

A figure stepped from the trees, its face covered with a mask that was painted with a spiral...and it was dressed in a very familiar black cloak with red clouds.

"You're Akatsuki," Sasuke said bluntly, tensing automatically. No one gained entrance to the Akatsuki without being extraordinarily strong, and he couldn't afford to be drawn into a possibly life-threatening battle while Sakura was with him.

"So you're Sasuke, huh?" the man remarked (the voice sounded male), sounding unusually bright and cheery for someone who was a member of a group of mass-murderers. "You look a lot like Itachi!"

Sakura could practically see Sasuke's spine straighten an extra inch as every muscle in his body snapped tight.

_'He had to bring Itachi up, didn't he?'_ she thought darkly.

She half-expected Sasuke to lunge at the man but he didn't move, apparently settling for an intimidating glare.

"Damn, you're scary!" the Akatsuki yelped, skittering back into the trees.

Sakura blinked, her brow furrowing – she'd never seen an Akatsuki act like this. She wondered if he'd suffered brain damage somehow, started to roll her eyes at the thought...

And was brought up short when she spotted a flicker of shadow at the edge of her peripheral vision. She tilted her head up and saw two giant birds that looked like they had been sculpted from clay diving from the sky...with a very familiar blonde man perched on the back of one of the monsters.

"Deidara!" she yelled, remembering when Kakashi and Naruto had faced this man, and Sasuke jerked his head upwards at her shout.

A clay bomb was descending on them.

Sasuke reacted quickly. He yanked Sakura to him, throwing part of his cloak over her as he summoned one of his snakes. The creature coiled around them, creating a thick wall of scales to shield them from the bomb. He gripped Sakura tightly and braced himself as the earth shook under their feet, reverberating with the impact of the explosion.

He released Sakura as soon as the earth stopped shifting, banishing the snake to see the two Akatsuki on the ground, facing them.

The blonde – Deidara, Sakura had called him – suddenly scowled. "You again?"

For a moment, Sasuke was confused...until he realised Deidara's eyes were on Sakura.

"Hey, isn't that the girl who killed your other partner, Sasori?" the Akatsuki with the mask commented. "Haruno Sakura?"

"Yeah, that's me," Sakura said, not bothering to clarify that she'd had assistance and it had been Chiyo who'd struck the actual death blow.

To say Sasuke was startled was an understatement. He knew Sakura had grown stronger...but to have killed an Akatsuki member?

Deidara grinned. "Well, won't this be interesting..."

"Sakura, hide," Sasuke ordered, drawing his sword.

Sakura's first impulse was to tell him where he could shove that suggestion, but her common sense won out. There were two Akatsuki in front of her, and with the collar on, she'd be lucky to get in even one blow. Exiting the battlefield definitely sounded better.

So she just nodded and promptly took off in the opposite direction, darting across the ground as she tried to put as much distance between her and the oncoming fight as possible.

Deidara smirked. "You do realise we can just catch up with her after-"

But it was then that Sasuke charged.

He swung his sword straight through the masked man, feeling a little surprised that it was so easy, as Deidara leapt into the branches of a tree above his head.

"You seem to like the sound of your own voice," the Uchiha commented, ignoring the body that dropped to the ground behind him. "So I'll ask you a few things about Itachi."

Movement behind him caught his eye, and he felt a small burst of astonishment as he watched the man he thought he'd killed rise to his feet.

"What the hell are you doing, Tobi?" Deidara yelled, and Sasuke mentally filed the name away for future reference. "He may be just a kid, but don't let your guard down!"

The blonde plunged his hands into two thick pouches at his side, grinning maniacally as he drew out a small collection of clay bombs. "Tobi, get back!"

And then he unleashed them in a hail of destruction.

Sasuke grasped his collection of senbon, using Chidori to charge them with electricity before he sent them sailing through the air to impact the bombs with uncanny accuracy and drive them off course. Several were pinned to the trees around them, but more landed beside the man called Tobi.

"Don't detonate them!" Tobi yelped.

Deidara automatically turned towards his partner, and Sasuke took advantage of his distraction to position himself behind and above his opponent, his sword poised for the killing blow. Tobi shouted a warning and the blonde spun, throwing out one of his clay bombs practically in Sasuke's face, forcing the Uchiha to call on every ounce of his speed to evade the resulting explosion.

Sasuke noted that the bombs pierced by his senbon didn't detonate, and wondered if the earth-based attack had been countered by his Chidori...or if Deidara had simply chosen not to detonate them because many of them were quite close to his partner.

There was no way to know, so Sasuke watched closely for his next opportunity. Deidara clenched his hands, almost as though he were going to summon something...and a gigantic clay dragon appeared in a burst of smoke.

-xxx-

Within another stand of trees, Sakura slowed her pace to a more moderate run, a pace she could maintain for quite some time.

It had occurred to her that if she just kept running, there wasn't much Sasuke could do – she could probably run all the way back to Konoha. He would be too busy with the Akatsuki at first, and then hopefully too exhausted from the fight to pursue her.

Assuming he survived...

Sakura shook her head, telling herself that such thoughts were ridiculous. Sasuke had beaten Orochimaru with barely a single injury – he could certainly take on an Akatsuki...

But two?

_'This is my one chance to escape,'_ she told herself firmly. _'I will not ruin it, I will not go back for him, I will not go back for him...'_

And yet, the memory of Sasuke's words to her just that morning haunted her. He had brought her along out of concern for her – misguided and unnecessary, perhaps, but genuine concern. He had tried to care for her welfare, in his own way.

Shouldn't she at least try to do the same?

_'No, I shouldn't,'_ she insisted. _'I should get back home – god knows what Naruto and all the others are going through right now!'_

She chanted it over and over in her mind, like a mantra, hoping it would dampen the growing flicker of guilt and longing that urged her to turn around and run back to Sasuke.

-xxx-

Sasuke eyed the gigantic clay dragon Deidara perched on top of, wondering where this was going. Did the Akatsuki plan to use the dragon to attack from above? Or was it just one gigantic explosive?

The clay creature suddenly spewed a slew of bombs, the explosives coming to rest at Tobi's feet. Sasuke had the feeling the man would soon be doing something with the bombs, so he lunged forward, intent on incapacitating the bomb-maker before his plan could come to fruition.

The dragon spat another clay creation, this one resembling a bird. Sasuke leapt to the side, away from the immediate path of the bomb, but to his astonishment the bird swerved as well, as though it were being guided somehow. He only just managed to dodge the immediate impact, and the force of the explosion slammed into him like a steel wall, making him slide backwards several feet in a cloud of dust.

From the corner of his eye, he glimpsed the dragon rising into the sky with Deidara on its head...but Tobi was nowhere to be seen.

Sasuke had no idea what the second Akatsuki could be doing with a slew of bombs not his own, but he knew it wouldn't benefit him in any way. He had to take Deidara down first – then, hopefully, the bombs would be nothing but useless clay without the chakra of their creator.

So he summoned the power of Chidori to his hand, manipulating it to extend in a long, thin blade of pure lightning.

But it stopped just a few inches short of the dragon. Knowing that was the limit of his range, Sasuke discharged the Chidori, trying to calculate Deidara's next move. The bomb-maker was obviously a long range fighter, and if he remained atop the dragon this battle was going to be difficult.

Nothing he couldn't handle, of course, but difficult nevertheless.

The dragon spat another of those exploding birds, and Sasuke only just managed to get out of the way in time. But when he left the dust cloud, his foot had barely touched the ground before it detonated below him, as though he'd stepped on a bomb instead of earth.

There was no time to get out of the way. It was all Sasuke could do to shift straight into his cursed seal form, using his large wings to fly upwards a little in an attempt to minimise the damage.

In the end, he lost one of his boots and ended up with a lot of scrapes and bruises. But there was no critical damage.

Sasuke's head jerked to the side as movement caught his eye. Tobi erupted from the ground, one hand waving enthusiastically.

"I'm done laying the clay mines!" he called, and Sasuke knew what had happened. The ground was riddled with Deidara's bombs, and he'd had the misfortune of stepping on one.

He barely heard Deidara's warning to his partner to get away from the battlefield, he was too busy seeking out Sakura's chakra, trying to determine if she was far enough away...

She was. And only getting further away, he realised, but at least she was out of the minefield and the immediate range of the explosions.

Some part of Sasuke could admire Deidara's strategy. Land mines in the ground and guided bombs from above? He didn't imagine many opponents lasted long beneath such an onslaught.

"You might want to be careful," Deidara called down mockingly. "One wrong step..and boom!"

Sasuke made careful note of the fact that it seemed that Deidara couldn't detonate the bombs at will. Did that mean the bombs pierced by his senbon hadn't exploded because his Chidori had somehow canceled out their explosive powers?

A plan was beginning to unfold in Sasuke's mind. His Sharingan allowed him to see chakra, and he could tell that he was completely surrounded by the land mines. But if electricity really worked to nullify them...

The dragon spewed another bomb and Sasuke let it come, flinging his sword, charged with Chidori, to the side. The bomb landed straight on his left shoulder, and the resulting explosion knocked him down and severed his wing from his body.

He grunted, trying to push the pain to the back of his mind. Having his wings injured was always strange – seeing as they weren't normally part of his body, the pain was far less intense, as though they weren't truly connected to him.

Sakura could probably come up with some explanation as to why, but he couldn't dwell on that now.

He could see his katana had come to a halt several feet from him. It had embedded deeply into the ground, blade first, straight into a mine...and there had been no resulting explosion.

It seemed his suspicion that his Chidori could counter the bombs had become fact. Now all he needed to do was coax Deidara into position above the blade...

Sheltered by the dust cloud, he unleashed two fumma shuriken, throwing them high into the air, gripping the wires attached to them firmly in his hand. Just a little more...

The dust cleared in a sudden gust of wind to reveal the dragon preparing to spew another bomb. Sasuke tugged on the wires, causing the shuriken to reverse their trajectories, doubling back on their path and aiming perfectly for Deidara.

The dragon swooped away, letting the shuriken fly harmlessly past...and placing itself right above the sword.

Sasuke barely heard Deidara's taunting laughter or saw the dragon unleashing another bomb, he was so focused on his objective. As the bomb descended, he leapt to the side, landing as neatly as a cat on the hilt of his sword and using it to launch himself into the air.

When he deemed he was close enough, he unleashed his lightning blade...and this time, it found its mark, neatly cleaving one of the clay dragon's wings from its body.

The dragon fell, unable to stay airborne with just one wing. Sasuke tugged on the wires in his hand again, twisting the fuuma shuriken through the air until they slammed into Deidara's arms, pinning him to the dragon...and ensuring he would feel every bit of impact when his creation fell onto the mines he had made.

The dragon hit the ground, and the resulting explosion felled several trees and kicked up a screen of dust so thick Sasuke could barely see through it.

-xxx-

The ground suddenly rumbled dangerously under Sakura's feet as an explosion lit up the forest behind her.

The medic paused, biting her lip as she glanced over her shoulder. A lot of weight had just been added to the argument for going back.

She told herself not to worry – she'd seen firsthand how powerful Sasuke was.

But still...what if he was hurt?

In that split-second, Sakura knew she couldn't deny that Sasuke still had a place in her heart.

"_Goddammit!_" she yelled, stomping her foot like an intractable child. But at the moment, Sakura felt like having a bit of a temper tantrum. It wasn't fair! How could she still feel something for a man who had knocked her out, left her on a bench, tried to kill her dearest friend, and essentially kidnapped her? It wasn't fair!

Sakura knew she should just keep running. Looking at it logically, Sasuke was her captor – she owed him nothing.

But at the same time, she couldn't forget that his reason for kidnapping her had very little to do with malice and a lot to do with genuine regard for her safety. And Sasuke had been almost nice in the past few days, as though now that he was out of Sound he was free to unwind a little. If nothing else, he was certainly a lot chattier.

But it all came down to the fact that she was just trying to justify what she was considering. Trying to justify that she knew she'd never forgive herself if she didn't turn around. No one would blame her for abandoning him...no one except herself. She might be able to slip away in the dead of night without a flicker of guilt...but she couldn't bring herself to run out on Sasuke in the middle of a battle.

So, with a final sigh at her idiotic heart, Sakura turned and ran back the way she'd come.

-xxx-

Sasuke used his snake summons to wrap around a tree trunk and pull him into the forest, landing on a branch where he was safe from the land mines. His curse seal retracted as he gazed into the billowing smoke, trying to determine if he'd succeeded.

Apparently not, because Deidara rose from the dust of the explosion, perched atop a large clay bird. But the explosion had done some damage – the blonde's clothes were streaked with his own blood.

Deidara's face was twisted in fury, and this time when he drew clay from his pouches, he didn't use his hands to mould it...

He ate it.

Sasuke stared, wondering what kind of jutsu this was meant to be...until Deidara spat a river of clay that twisted and warped until it formed a gigantic effigy of himself.

It was huge. And if it was another bomb...

Sasuke turned and ran through the trees, desperately trying to put enough distance between himself and the enormous figure so that he wouldn't be blown to pieces when it detonated. The giant bulged, swelling as though about to burst...

But it didn't burst. Instead, it crumbled into dust.

For a moment, Sasuke thought it might have been a dud. Perhaps Deidara didn't have enough chakra left to make the explosive effective?

But then his Sharingan picked up the cloud of chakra that was swirling towards him.

It wasn't a dud...it had just disintegrated into bombs too tiny for him to see. Tiny enough for him to inhale. And once he did...

Sasuke didn't need to be a genius to know what would happen if those bombs detonated while in his body. He cast a swift genjutsu to make it appear as if he were still fleeing from Deidara and quickly shifted once more into his cursed seal state, summoning a thick knot of snakes to serve in place of his missing wing.

Deidara was hovering just outside the cloud of bombs. If he could get to him...

He launched himself into the air from the treetops, hearing Deidara laugh as his genjutsu self was destroyed by the bombs...

Then he seemed to notice that the real Sasuke was behind him, and his laughter died. He half-turned towards the attack...but he reacted too late, and Sasuke drove his Chidori-infused fist straight through Deidara's chest.

"I missed your heart on purpose," Sasuke hissed. "Now tell me where Itachi is."

He thought he heard an explosion from below them, but disregarded it – it was probably some unwitting animal that had stepped on one of the land mines.

Deidara smirked...and a hand erupted from the back of the bird they were standing on, seizing Sasuke by the ankle.

Deidara emerged from within the bird as the body Sasuke had pierced dissolved into clay.

_'A clay clone,'_ Sasuke thought.

Deidara spewed another copy of himself, the pliant clay snaring Sasuke and engulfing him within the effigy. Sasuke jerked his hand free of the clay clone, knowing he didn't have enough chakra left to dispose of the clay that entombed him. At first, he thought it was going to detonate around him...until his Sharingan picked up the wisps of chakra saturating the air around him.

More microscopic bombs. The air within Deidara's creation was filled with them.

In desperation, Sasuke charged up another Chidori and tore his way free of the clay prison. But he knew he had inhaled the bombs.

So as he fell towards the ground, Sasuke turned his Chidori on himself, hoping the electricity would nullify the explosives before they could detonate.

As he fell, Sasuke could have sworn he'd heard more bombs go off, but told himself it wasn't his concern.

-xxx-

"Yipe..." Sakura whispered, gazing at the innocuous-looking expanse of dirt in front of her.

But appearances were deceiving – she'd just seen a lizard wander over the ground...and get blown sky-high as though it had stepped on a land mine.

Which wasn't completely out of the realm of probability, she admitted. Deidara worked with clay explosives – maybe he'd planted them there during his fight with Sasuke.

_'Okay,'_ she told herself. _'Think this through...you'll just have to detonate the bombs before you step on the ground.'_

She reached down, digging up several clods of dirt, and flung one down to the ground right in front of her.

Nothing happened (she was probably still a little way out of the limits of the minefield), so Sakura picked it up and flung it a little further. Some distance, but still enough that she could leap to it if needed.

The ensuing explosion showered her with dust and set her coughing, but at least she knew she'd detonated that mine.

So Sakura leapt neatly into the center of the crater, poised on one foot, not daring to set the other down in case she set off another mine. She flung another clod of dirt, detonated another mine in front of her, and leapt to the middle of the crater again.

It was like a very deadly variation of hopscotch.

-xxx-

Sasuke landed heavily on the ground, every cell in his body screaming...but seeing as he hadn't been blown to microscopic particles of dust, he assumed his trick with the Chidori had worked.

Even if it left every part of him aching with the aftershocks of the electricity he had run through himself.

He could tell by Deidara's laughter that the man thought him dead. It was a simple matter for Sasuke to sweep out of the trees behind the blonde and plant his fist in the man's face, sending him rolling across the ground.

"Where is Itachi?" Sasuke asked grimly, advancing slowly on the Akatsuki.

Deidara snarled, two clay snakes shooting from his hands to twine around Sasuke's ankles. The Uchiha let the electricity of the Chidori crackle across his skin, lancing down into the snakes, traveling up the clay...

Deidara hastened to break contact with the snakes before he could be shocked.

Sasuke tried to continue his advance, but his legs folded beneath him, sending him lurching to the ground on his knees.

The two men faced each other across a distance of perhaps a few feet, both of them bruised, bloodied, and almost out of chakra.

"Geez, you guys don't look so good," came a voice from the trees.

Sasuke turned, surprised to see Sakura standing at the edge of the clearing, her clothes streaked with dust and sweat. He had been so exhausted he hadn't sensed her approach.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke snarled.

"And the man half-dead on his feet yells at the medic who came to save his sorry ass," she muttered, shaking her head.

Deidara gave a very nasty grin. "You picked a bad time to come back."

He shed the tattered remnants of his shirt, revealing a line of stitching across his chest. He raised one of his hands, the mouth on his palm biting through the stitches as his other hand pulled an enormous lump of clay from one of his pouches.

His skin seemed to crack open, and Sakura realised the line of stitching had been holding another mouth closed. A mouth that protruded directly from his chest.

"What's with you Akatsuki?" she blurted. "First puppet-boy and now you – it's like someone picked you up at a freak show!"

"Shut up!" he shrieked, shoving the clay into the mouth on his chest. "I'm going to blow myself up!"

_'A suicide attack,'_ Sakura thought numbly.

She could actually see the last of his chakra gathering as dark lines spidered across his body, as though he were clay that was starting to break apart.

Sasuke lurched backwards, attempting to make a run for it, though he was so battered he knew he wasn't going to get far. But then Sakura was suddenly beside him, one small hand on his shoulder.

"Give me your senbon," she ordered, her hand plunging into one of the pouches at his waist and withdrawing the last of his senbon.

She had never done anything like this before. She didn't want to actually touch Deidara in case the contact set off the explosion...but senbon were small, and there should be no pause between initial contact and death.

_If_ she got this right.

She'd seen people killed with just a few senbon in the right places before – she knew it was possible. She knew all the spots, all the multitude of tiny targets she needed to hit and how many...she just needed to be very accurate. Bright, glowing light was already beginning to leak through the cracks in Deidara's body, like a sun about to go supernova. Her retinas burned but Sakura didn't dare shield her eyes, already taking aim...

_'Come on, Sakura, channel your inner Tenten!'_

And then she let fly.

But she had no chance to see if she'd succeeded, because Sasuke's arm closed around her waist, yanking her almost painfully against him before she felt the sudden lurching sensation of a teleportation jutsu.

-xxx-

"What the hell just happened?" Naruto asked, staring at the horizon where a flash of light had grown...and then suddenly died, all within the space of a few moments.

"Let's find out," Yamato commented, and he, Naruto and Hinata sprang into action, running for where they'd seen the flare.

-xxx-

"Where are we?" Sakura whispered.

She didn't know where Sasuke had taken them, only that it was pitch black, the ground was strangely spongy, and that it smelled rather unappetizing. Spots of light were fading in and out of her vision, her eyes struggling to adjust to the darkness after such intense light.

She couldn't see Sasuke, but she could feel that both his arms were still tightly locked around her and her hands were resting against his bare chest, which seemed to be barely an inch in front of her face.

"We needed to seek shelter from the blast," came Sasuke's voice, sounding strained and weary. "I transported us both within Manda."

"You mean...we're inside a snake?"

"Yes."

Sakura thought that over for a moment. "Are we...hurting him?"

Sasuke reflected that was typical Sakura. They were inside a snake that would have happily eaten her the last time they'd met, and she was worried she might be causing the creature pain.

"No," he said. "I doubt we are large enough to hurt him."

"Oh...you do realise that if my attack worked, there wouldn't have been an explosion? My senbon would have stopped his heart before he could build enough energy to blow up."

Sasuke went stiff. It had cost an enormous amount of energy to transport both himself and Sakura within Manda – was she saying she could have saved him the trouble? That she could have killed him with senbon?

"Are you sure?"

"Well...I've never really done that before," she admitted. "But I know what to hit – it just depends on how accurate I am...so maybe your escape plan was a good idea."

"Hn."

Sakura could hear Sasuke's uneven breathing in the darkness, and she could feel each painful hitch through her hands. He was clearly badly injured and deeply exhausted – she was surprised he was still on his feet.

And even though it must have cost him a lot to do so, he had done his best to save her life.

Without really thinking about it, she began to channel her chakra into Sasuke's body, trying to heal the worst of his injuries. She felt him twitch in surprise, before he relaxed under her ministrations.

It was the first time she'd healed him.

She didn't know why she'd chosen now to help Sasuke – maybe because he needed it, maybe because she'd finally admitted to herself that she hadn't been able to cast him from her heart, maybe it was because he'd finally shown that there might be more of her old teammate left than he would admit...

Whatever the reason, Sakura had made her choice.

Sasuke stared down at Sakura's face, lit by the soft glow of her chakra, her features set in concentration. He could feel her energy flowing into his body, renewing him, soothing away the tingling aches and sharp pains gained in his battle with the Akatsuki member.

He had never liked being healed by Kabuto. The Sound medic's healing had always felt invasive and uncomfortable, like having a parasite worming into his body, making his skin crawl even as it was repaired. But this was different. Sakura's healing felt more akin to a warm shower on a cold day; relaxing and pleasant, a sensation he wanted to prolong rather than one he wanted to end.

Sakura slowly decreased the amount of chakra she was pouring into Sasuke's body. Most of his exhaustion was a result of chakra depletion as opposed to actual injury, and there was nothing she could do to alleviate that. It only took her a few moments and a surprisingly small amount of chakra to deal with the worst of his wounds – she was feeling a little tired, but she wasn't so much as dizzy, let alone feeling faint.

A lock of hair slid in front of her eyes, and Sakura was about to blow it out of her face when Sasuke's fingers snagged the pink strands, tucking them behind her ear with a surprisingly gentle touch.

Her eyes flew to his face in shock, the dim glow of her chakra making his features darkly shadowed and practically unreadable. She had almost convinced herself that Sasuke didn't mean anything by it – that the touch was completely innocent – when his hand drifted down her cheek, the pads of his fingers stroking the curve of her jaw as the tip of his thumb just barely brushed the edge of her lower lip.

She didn't care how antisocial Sasuke was, even he had to know that this was certainly not an innocent touch!

The hand resting on the small of her back was exerting a slight pressure, just enough to urge her closer but not enough so that she couldn't have resisted. But Sakura didn't – all higher brain function seemed to have been placed on a temporary halt, and she found herself closing the minuscule distance between them. The position of her hands on Sasuke's chest became uncomfortable, so she automatically slid them to his shoulders, resting almost against the nape of his neck, her chakra still flickering between her fingers.

The hand on her face didn't move away, and didn't cease its slow exploration of the curve of her lip.

Sasuke had no concrete idea of what he was doing. He knew he was playing with fire, but he couldn't seem to help himself. Maybe it was his exhaustion, maybe it was the strange sensations her healing had produced in him...

Whatever the reason, Sasuke had made his choice.

He was about to dip his head and find out whether her lips were as soft as her skin when everything lurched unpleasantly around them, and Manda's mouth was opening to spill them onto the ground.

-xxx-

Suigetsu swore when he saw the flash of light at the rendezvous point. He dug the summoning scroll Sasuke had given him out of his bag, opening it on the ground and drawing out a small vial of blood Sasuke had given to him for emergencies.

Suigetsu felt this qualified.

He dribbled a few drops of the Uchiha's blood on the summoning scroll, slapping his hand against it and calling forth Manda.

The gigantic snake appeared in a swirl of smoke, its eyes strangely glazed and its body unmoving.

_'Genjutsu,'_ Suigetsu surmised.

At first, he wondered why Sasuke had given him the means to summon a giant snake – how was this meant to help? – but then Manda bent forward, opening his mouth...and spilling two figures onto the ground.

Sasuke and Sakura landed heavily on their sides, and Suigetsu's sharp eyes didn't miss Sasuke's hand on Sakura's lower back, clenched in the fabric of her shirt, nor Sakura's grip on Sasuke's shoulders.

They struggled to their feet – Sasuke taking far longer than Sakura – pointedly avoiding each other's eyes.

And Suigetsu knew something had happened. If nothing else, the sexual tension was so thick Suigetsu got the feeling that if he tried to step between them he'd break his nose against it.

"You look pretty beat," Suigetsu commented, noting the smears of dirt and blood decorating Sasuke's body and the dust caked into Sakura's clothes. "Fight someone?"

Sasuke didn't answer – he just made a vague gesture that caused Manda to vanish in another spurt of smoke before collapsing to his knees again.

Sakura automatically clutched at his shoulders to steady him, and Suigetsu noted that he made no move to shrug her off. In fact, the Uchiha seemed almost disappointed when she withdrew her hands.

"Was there an explosion?" Sasuke asked.

Suigetsu shook his head. "No, no explosion – there was just this really bright light that suddenly disappeared."

"But no explosion?"

"No explosion."

Sakura laughed, a triumphant grin on her face. "See – I told you!"

Sasuke snorted, unwilling to admit he was rather impressed that Sakura's trick with the senbon had worked.

And Tobi and Deidara had mentioned that she'd killed another Akatsuki member. It seemed bewildering to think of Sakura as being powerful enough to fell one of those ninja – he'd nearly died trying to defeat Deidara.

"What'd you tell him, Princess?" Suigetsu asked, breaking into Sasuke's train of thought.

Sakura opened her mouth, but was cut off by shouts from behind them. All three turned to find Karin and Juugo coming up on them at top speed.

"Hey," Sakura said, giving them a wave.

Juugo smiled at her, and Karin ignored her.

"I fought an Akatsuki," Sasuke said bluntly, cutting off any questions they might have. "He was stronger than I thought."

"This is the man who beat Orochimaru?" Karin screeched.

Sakura grinned a little, unable to help herself. It seemed Karin wasn't as blinded by Sasuke as she'd originally thought.

"Orochimaru was already weakened," Sasuke explained curtly.

"Well, as a medic, I can tell you you're not going anywhere fast for a while," Sakura informed him. "If we want to find somewhere to rest up, I guarantee you'll feel better for it."

-xxx-

Sakura leaned wearily against the wall of the small motel. While she wasn't totally drained, her healing of Sasuke, her desperate run (in both directions) and the long trek to the motel meant that a nap certainly wouldn't go amiss.

It wouldn't go amiss for Sasuke, either, but he was apparently deciding to be stubborn. While he _was_ in a futon, he was sitting up and quite wide awake, currently interrogating the other members of Hebi.

At least she'd been able to change out of her dusty, sweaty clothes.

"Did anyone get any leads on Itachi?"

"You've got to be kidding!" Karin scoffed. "You're half-dead and still trying to be a tough guy?"

"Sakura healed me," Sasuke countered.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Yeah – I healed most of your physical injuries. I can't do anything about chakra depletion, and that's what's got you so messed up. So take the doctor's advice and get some rest."

"_I'd_ take your advice, Princess," Suigetsu purred. "You can play doctor with me anytime..."

Sakura snorted out a half-laugh, but Sasuke's gaze narrowed and sharpened, unamused by Suigetsu's flirtatious tone.

"I heard plenty about Akatsuki," Suigetsu said, hastily getting back to the topic. There seemed to be an extra edge to Sasuke's glare this time, further cementing Suigetsu's suspicion that something had happened between the Uchiha and Sakura. "But nothing about Itachi, specifically."

Sasuke's eyes flickered to Karin, and the redhead shrugged expressively.

"They're after people with special kinds of chakra, from what I've heard," Suigetsu continued.

"They're after the demons," Sakura said bluntly. "You know, the tailed demons? So they hunt the people who serve as vessels for those demons."

She bit back the rest of her sentence, _'so that's why you have to let me go back to Naruto'_, knowing it probably wouldn't do anything to sway Sasuke's mind. He seemed adamant about keeping her with Hebi, and now that she knew why, she was finding it very difficult to be angry with him.

"How do you know this?" Karin asked, obviously suspicious.

Sakura shrugged.

"From what the animals tell me, the Akatsuki have several bases that they operate out of," Juugo commented, glancing at the bird perched on his shoulder. "They say that they feel strange, unpleasant chakra radiating from those places."

"Never would have guessed a bunch of stupid animals could sense chakra," Suigetsu snickered. "Although...'stupid animal' describes Karin pretty well, so I guess it makes sense..."

"You asshole!" Karin screamed, delivering a sharp roundhouse kick to Suigetsu's head, which promptly turned to liquid and splattered against the wall.

Sakura sighed, leaning back against the wall and closing her eyes in an effort to block out the argument. The rustle of wings made her open her eyes again...to find that the birds were winging away from Juugo, who had become strangely tense.

_'Uh, oh,'_ she thought.

She wasn't the only one to notice. Sasuke watched dark marks begin to slide across Juugo's skin, knowing that the man was about to snap. He wasn't entirely sure if he could subdue him in his weakened state...but Sakura was far too close to the blonde man, so his first priority was to get her out of the way...

"_Kill!_" came Juugo's sudden bellow as he rose and lunged for the closest person to him – Sakura.

The medic darted backwards, narrowly avoiding a blow that would have crushed her skull like an empty eggshell. Sasuke's eyes washed red and black as he awakened the Sharingan, locking eyes with Juugo to affect the strange hypnosis the Uchiha bloodline trait was capable of.

The dark marks receded, and Juugo slumped to the floor with a stream of apologies. Sakura glanced at Sasuke...to find his eyes were closed, and his chin had dropped forward to rest on his chest. In fact, he even appeared to be snoring ever so slightly.

He was fast asleep.

"He's asleep?" Karin asked, sounding incredulous.

"I knew that chakra depletion would catch up with him," Sakura muttered, shaking her head in exasperation.

Maybe that would teach him to listen to her next time.

-xxx-

"_True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked."_

_-Erich Segal _

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye for beta-ing this!_

_And as always, thanks to my anonymous reviewers. Can't reply to you, but you guys say the nicest things!_


	14. Abduction

**Chapter 14**

**Abduction**

"_A fool in love makes no sense to me. I only think you are a fool if you do not love."  
-Anonymous_

-xxx-

"Is this feeling any better?" Sakura asked, her hands bracketed on either side of Juugo's face as she struggled to keep the touch of her healing chakra as light as possible.

She was trying to influence the hormonal balance of Juugo's body. It sounded easy, but in practice was incredibly difficult. Hormones influenced so much of the body, rarely having just one effect, so she would only risk tipping the balance the slightest bit.

Not to mention, that the collar had decided to remind her of its existence in the form of the light, empty feeling curling behind her eyes.

"I feel...calmer," the blonde man said wonderingly, as though he couldn't quite believe it.

"That's only because Sasuke used his Sharingan on you," Karin sniped, pocketing a few kunai as she prepared to leave the room on an errand. "It has nothing to do with her."

Sakura ignored the redhead but Juugo frowned at her, a shadow of anger flitting across his features. The medic was glad that some of the blonde's usual spirit seemed to be returning – he had been so guilty about attacking her he'd barely been able to look her in the eye when she'd first started working on him.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Suigetsu asked Karin rudely. "Somewhere not here?"

Karin sneered and shut the door with a bang. Sakura privately thought it was a miracle the sound didn't wake Sasuke – his battle with Deidara must have truly exhausted him.

"Do you feel anything other than calmer?" Sakura queried, as though she and Juugo hadn't been interrupted. "Headache? Nausea? Anything that just spontaneously developed while I was working on you?"

Juugo shook his head.

And Sakura beamed. "Excellent! I think we may be on the right track here, as far as curing you goes. I'll be perfectly honest – I'm not sure if I could ever completely cure you, but I certainly might be able to help-"

The medic's words were cut off by a large yawn.

"You might want to take your own advice about that sleeping-thing, Princess," Suigetsu commented. Then, with a flirtatious grin, "Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you'd look hot even with bags under your eyes-"

Sakura giggled. Suigetsu's playful interest in her was good for her ego, as opposed to the constant barrage of 'ugly' from Sai or the continued reminder of Sasuke's disinterest (though that little episode when she was healing him still made her think). Sure, Naruto did much the same thing, but nowadays it seemed to be an action of habit, as opposed to any real desire for her.

As always, thoughts of Konoha brought a painful twinge of homesickness, and Sakura had to forcefully steer her mind elsewhere to keep her mood from plummeting.

"It's this stupid collar," she groused. "If this was off-"

"I'll have another go at it," Suigetsu offered.

Sakura slumped back against the wall behind her, sitting down and letting her head rest on it to allow him access to the lock that had so frustrated him previously.

"Why don't you just try to cut it off?" Juugo asked. "The leather is tough, and quite close to your skin, but as long as you were careful..."

Sakura shook her head. "When I first got it, I wasn't going to risk cutting it off – I mean, I'm sure I wasn't the first slave to try to cut their collar off, so I thought it was a good bet that there was probably a nasty failsafe built in it somewhere that would do something to me if I tried to cut it off. And now that Sasuke has told me there's chakra moving through it...I'd rather not risk it."

After all, she wasn't an idiot. Who knew what the chakra in the collar would do if the material it inhabited was suddenly severed? It could be perfectly harmless...or it could do something very harm_ful_, like blow up. And frankly, she wouldn't have put it past Orochimaru to put some lethal trick into his slave collars.

She wouldn't risk cutting it off her neck. Picking the lock was far less likely to trigger any sort of negative reaction.

Juugo frowned, and Suigetsu ran his tongue over his sharp teeth as he inspected the lock. He didn't really hold out any hope of finding anything new but felt he should look all the same.

He jabbed at the lock with the tip of a kunai, unsurprised when something seemed to bar his way. Someone inexperienced in lock picking wouldn't realise what was happening, but Suigetsu had opened enough forbidden doors to know that the tip of the blade wasn't sliding in far enough to contact the tumblers.

Something was preventing it.

He tried to angle his head to see into the lock, in case he could pinpoint exactly what was causing the problem. Maybe a small rock or piece of dirt had slipped inside it during Sakura's travels...

But he saw nothing – the lock was too small to really get a good view inside. He was about to ask Sakura to move closer to the window and therefore the light, when Juugo spoke softly.

"She's asleep."

At first, Suigetsu thought he was talking about one of the birds that had re-alighted on the windowsill. It was only when he raised his head and glimpsed Sakura's closed eyes that he realised the blonde had been talking about the medic.

It said a lot about how exhausted Sakura was that she had fallen asleep within a few minutes of leaning up against the wall. And watching her work on Juugo, Suigetsu would never have guessed she'd felt the slightest bit tired.

"Should we move her?" Juugo asked tentatively. "She doesn't look comfortable..."

"Yeah, but we better be careful. Princess is a ninja, remember? We don't want to startle her awake and get our heads taken off."

In the end, they decided against moving Sakura to a horizontal position (something told Suigetsu she wouldn't remain unconscious for that big of a shift in her environment) so he and Juugo slowly, carefully, edged her a foot or so along the wall and into the corner.

Sakura stirred as her head came to rest in the small cradle provided by the juncture of the two walls, just as Juugo was carefully shifting her legs into place.

"If you're groping me, Naruto, I'll break your arm," she threatened sleepily, her brief moment of coherency only registering blonde hair in front of her and hands moving her legs.

"You know, Princess, some guys might consider that a price they'd be willing to pay," Suigetsu drawled, but she had drifted into sleep again.

Juugo regarded her for a moment, as though he was a photographer trying for a perfect shot.

"Not finished with your masterpiece?" Suigetsu snarked.

Juugo ignored him, pulling a blanket from the closet and draping it over Sakura, tucking it around her to ensure she'd be warm.

Only then did he resume his seat by the window with the birds.

-xxx-

Naruto darted through the trees, finally bursting into a tiny clearing several feet ahead of Hinata and Yamato...to find the others standing grouped around a body. A very familiar body.

Naruto gaped as he recognised Deidara of the Akatsuki, his body cracked and flaking as though he was made of clay...and with several senbon driven through his neck.

"What happened here?" he demanded.

"Looks like everyone else noticed the flash as well," Yamato commented as he drew alongside the blonde.

"Sasuke and Sakura were right here until a moment ago – we tracked their scents," one of Kakashi's summons piped up.

"There are still traces of them left...along with several others," Kiba said, sniffing deeply.

"So...does that mean Sakura's around here somewhere?" Naruto asked desperately.

"Well, the mingling of other scents suggests that Sasuke has other companions besides Sakura," Kakashi said. "We'd follow the trail farther...but it ends here."

"Here?" Naruto glanced wildly around at the trees, as if expecting Sasuke and Sakura to step out from behind one of them at any moment.

"So it's likely a teleportation jutsu was used," Yamato mused. "There are some signs of a battle," he glanced around at the broken branches and scraped bark on some of the trees, "but seeing as there are no other bodies besides Deidara's, that seems to suggest that Sasuke and Sakura survived the encounter. In fact, the evidence suggests that the killing blow was dealt by Sakura."

Naruto glanced down at the body.

"Senbon," Yamato explained. "Targeted to very precise points...points a medic would know well."

Naruto nodded absently. At least it seemed that Sasuke and Sakura were alright.

He knew Tsunade, Sai and even Kakashi seemed to think there was something to those rumours about Sasuke raping Sakura, but Naruto refused to believe it. He couldn't – Sasuke was still Sasuke, deep down, which meant he wouldn't do anything like _that_, especially to Sakura.

"I've got their scent!" Kiba suddenly declared.

Everyone turned to him.

"Nowadays, my nose is even better than a hound's," he grinned. "I've found Sasuke and Sakura."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, impressed in spite of himself.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Naruto said. "Lead the way!"

"Wait!" Yamato barked. "What about the body?"

Kakashi considered it. It was true that many things could be learned by examining a ninja's corpse, but they had been sent on a rescue mission, not to gather intelligence. And if they took Deidara's body with them, they would surely be subjected to Akatsuki attacks as the organisation tried to claim the corpse so they could destroy it.

"We leave it here," he ordered. "Sakura is our priority."

-xxx-

"Do you think she's alright?" Juugo asked, his eyes on Sakura, still dozing against the wall. "She's been sleeping for a while...

"I'm sure Princess is fine," Suigetsu said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Just kinda beat. Sasuke hasn't woken up yet either."

The Uchiha was still dead to the world as well, slumbering peacefully in his futon.

Until the door was kicked in by Karin. "Sasuke, wake up – we're being followed!"

Sakura jerked out of her sleep with a loud, inelegant snort, and Sasuke blinked awake.

"Who's following us?" Sakura asked, putting aside her confusion about how she'd ended up in the corner with a blanket over her. "Akatsuki?"

"We leave now," Sasuke ordered, his voice firm as he rose. "Get everything ready. Juugo, grab the map and mark the location of every Akatsuki hideout you learned about."

"Who's following us?" Sakura repeated.

Sasuke glanced at Karin, his eyes ordering her to answer.

"It's either Akatsuki or Leaf ninja," she said at last.

"Leaf ninja..." A small, incredulous joy began to build behind Sakura's ribs. "Then you can let me go!"

Sasuke turned to her. "What was that?"

"You can let me go!" she insisted.

"No, I can't!" he said shortly. "We cannot be sure if they are Akatsuki or Leaf."

Karin, apparently seeing an opportunity to get rid of the other female member of Hebi, chimed in with, "There were several of them...and one of them was a dog, if that makes a difference."

"That has to be the others from Konoha!" Sakura exclaimed. "If there's a dog, that means Kiba and Akamaru are with them. Or Kakashi with one of his summons."

Sasuke was silent.

"Come on – if you just let me stay here, they'll catch up...and I can go with them."

Sasuke knew that this was presenting a perfect solution to his dilemma, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to grasp it. He had become accustomed to Sakura's presence...he even liked it.

And he couldn't forget the picture she'd made when they were sheltering in Manda's mouth, lit by the faint glow of her own chakra as she healed him, her eyes large and dark when she looked up at him, lips slightly parted...

Having Sakura around upset the careful balance within himself he had built over the years. Her presence, her laughter, her warmth...they all threatened his goal because everything she did only drew his mind from killing Itachi, made him wish he was someone else, anyone else. Someone who didn't have a near-impossible obstacle in his path, one that would likely take his life.

Sakura made him wish for a future...with her.

And if he let her go it would all be over. He could return to what he was, focusing on Itachi's destruction to the exclusion of all else...

But what if he didn't want to let her go? What if he'd come to like this?

"We cannot be sure," he repeated. "You will remain with me."

Suigetsu didn't think it was accidental that Sasuke had said 'me' instead of 'us'.

"But she can't do anything," Karin argued. "Her healing is mediocre at best-"

"Enough!" Sasuke snarled. "We leave now...Sakura as well."

Sakura stared at him, feeling her chest constrict with pain. After his confession as to his reason for taking her with him, and that episode inside Manda, she had thought they were growing a little closer. That maybe he respected her enough to trust that she could take care of herself, even with the collar on.

But apparently, that wasn't the case. And now she felt foolish for even considering the possibility that Sasuke might see her as anything more than a weak tag-along.

She turned away, gritting her teeth against the threatening sting of tears. She'd cried enough over Sasuke.

She had returned to help him during his battle with Deidara, yes, but that was different. She hadn't known if he was injured or not, he had been in need of help...but now, he was on his feet again, and perfectly capable of getting along fine without her. For god's sake, now that he knew how difficult it was to take down an Akatsuki, she would have thought he'd understand just how strong she'd become!

But apparently not. And the disappointment was almost more than she could bear.

Juugo moved to her side, resting one huge hand on her shoulder in sympathy. Sakura grasped his hand in her own, smiling gratefully up at him, and something hard and cold lodged in Sasuke's gut. Juugo lifted his eyes to Sasuke, and the Uchiha found himself tensing automatically. Juugo was very fond of Sakura...it was entirely possible he might forgo his previous friendship with Kimimaro and actually attack the Sharingan-user if he thought he was causing her distress.

But the moment dragged on without any action being taken, and at last Juugo bent to Sakura again. "You should be cautious, Sakura. If there is truly no way to tell who is pursuing us..."

"Yeah," the medic sighed, but Sasuke could tell that she was only affecting agreement so she wouldn't hurt Juugo's feelings.

"You seem pretty much recovered," Suigetsu remarked to Sasuke as they left the room, the Uchiha donning his black cloak as they went.

Sasuke nodded. "It seems absorbing Orochimaru increased my healing powers exponentially."

Of course, Sakura's healing had helped.

The medic trailed out behind them with Juugo at her shoulder, struggling not to show how depressed she truly felt. For a moment or two, she considered flatly refusing to go anywhere, but she didn't want to push Sasuke too far. He had once threatened to knock her out to bring her along with him, and seeing as he seemed to have scrapped whatever tentative connection they'd been building lately, she didn't think he'd hesitate to do so. As long as she remained conscious...there was a chance she could escape.

And seeing as her friends were nearby, she didn't even have to evade Hebi all the way Konoha – just long enough for her to find her friends.

"For now, we'll follow up on what Juugo learned," Sasuke was saying. "We'll head to various Akatsuki hideouts."

The others nodded, except Sakura, and they stepped forward. Karin's hand shot out, seizing Juugo's shoulder and bringing the larger man to a halt.

"Do you think you could get a few of your birds to help me out?" she asked in a low voice.

"With what?"

"I have the shirt that Sasuke was wearing," she said, brandishing the white cloth soaked in sweat and blood.

"Why do you have Sasuke's torn up clothes?" the blonde asked, nothing but bland curiosity in his tone.

"Never mind why!" she hissed. "Leaf ninja tend to make good use of tracking dogs – we can use this to throw them off the scent...except I don't have something with Sakura's scent on it."

"You want me to ask her for something that has her scent on it?" Juugo queried, sounding as though he was getting angry.

"We need to throw them off our scent," Karin wheedled. "After all, we assume it's Leaf ninja, but we don't know for sure, do we? It could be Akatsuki, after Sasuke and Sakura because they were involved in the death of one of their members. You don't want Akatsuki following Sakura, do you?"

Juugo frowned, appearing to debate the matter over in his mind. Then, his decision obviously reached, he stepped up his pace, catching up with the others in front of them. He spoke with Sakura – though Karin couldn't hear what they were saying, she could see Juugo's lips moving. Sakura gave a small, sad smile and shrugged the small pack she was carrying from her back, passing it to Juugo without a qualm.

Juugo then slowly dropped back until he was level with Karin again.

"What did you do?" she asked.

Juugo was looking a little guilty. "I just said she was looking tired, so if she wanted, I could carry her pack for her."

_'Stupid Leaf,'_ Karin thought scornfully. _'Far too trusting...'_

Juugo unfastened Sakura's pack, drawing out a small bundle of dusty, sweat-streaked clothes. The clothes Sakura had been wearing earlier that day, before she swapped them for the clean set she was wearing now.

"Bingo," Karin smirked, taking a kunai and beginning to shred the articles of clothing.

"Should we divide up our scents as well?" Juugo asked as he called a small flock of birds to him.

"I don't think so," Karin said, tying two pieces of cloth – one from Sasuke's shirt and the other from Sakura's – around one of the bird's feet. "If it's Leaf tracking us, they'll only have the scents of Sasuke and Sakura. And if it's the Akatsuki, the same applies – after all, they are the only two among us who've had any contact with the Akatsuki, so they're the only ones they're interested in."

-xxx-

"We've got a problem!" Kiba called. "Sasuke's and Sakura's scents are on the move...and they just scattered in all directions."

"They must have come up with a plan to throw us off the trail," Kakashi commented.

"But how c-could they have known we w-were on their trail in the f-first place?" Hinata asked.

"My guess would be Sasuke's team includes a shinobi who is extremely talented at sensing chakra," the silver-haired man replied.

"Then let's search all directions at once!" Naruto proclaimed, his hands flying into the seals of his signature technique.

The next instant, the forest was suddenly thick with Naruto's doppelgangers, each one running off in a different direction.

One of them was sure to intercept his missing teammates.

-xxx-

Sakura was quiet, and Sasuke told himself he wasn't bothered by it. Hebi had stopped in a small clearing, close to where one of the Akatsuki bases was said to be.

And Sakura had yet to speak to him. She hadn't even glanced in his direction. If she had been furious, he could have brushed it off and simply waited for her to cool down. If she had tried to escape, he could have stopped her.

But this...this aura of soft depression – as though she were deeply hurt but trying not to give into it – was something he simply didn't know how to deal with. He didn't want her miserable.

They'd traveled like this for barely forty-five minutes, and already Sasuke was feeling a desperate need to somehow make things better.

He wanted to see her smile again, really smile, even if it was only at Juugo and Suigetsu. He wanted see that fiery spirit of hers again, even if it was only glimpsed in flashes when she snarled at him.

Her attacks he had been able to counter. Her biting remarks he had largely ignored. Sakura's anger...he had been able to deal with.

But this...this quiet sadness was forcing him to realise how much he was truly hurting Sakura by denying her freedom.

But what could he do?

_'You know what you can do...'_ came the soft whisper in the back of his mind. _'You can let her go. There are no more excuses you can make – you know it is Leaf behind you, not Akatsuki. Sakura isn't here so you can protect her – she is here because you _want_ her here! But you never stopped to consider what _she_ wanted.'_

"Sakura, come with me," Sasuke ordered. "The rest of you – stay here."

Sakura clenched her jaw and obeyed, determined to act as though Sasuke was nothing but her jailer. From this moment on, she would owe him no loyalty, no feeling – _nothing!_

She had been smothering her sorrow for so long, choosing instead to focus on her anger, that when this blow was dealt she had found herself practically swept away in a sudden onslaught of depression. She was sure she had worried Juugo (and probably Suigetsu as well) with her despondent behaviour, but she had been struggling to deal with the death of the hope that maybe, just maybe, Sasuke really could be dragged out of the dark hole he had fallen into.

If he had let her go...it would have proved that the Sasuke she once knew wasn't completely gone.

But he hadn't. Sakura sighed, then shook her head firmly, telling herself to grow up and get out of this slump. Sure, it hurt, but she just had to get over it and pull herself back up.

After all, she'd dealt with Sasuke's abandonment, hadn't she? She could certainly deal with this.

Sasuke, for his part, was wrestling with his very personal revelation. It was rather stunning to realise that he hadn't brought Sakura along with him because he was concerned about her safety – he'd brought along because he didn't want to part with her again. He wanted her with him, so he took her.

With no regard for her feelings on the matter whatsoever.

He was starting to realise that when he came to Sakura, he had been selfish for his entire life. Frighteningly little of his interaction with her had been done with her feelings paramount in his mind. It had all been about him; it had always been about him.

He'd always been selfish with Sakura...so he would be generous this time. She wanted her freedom, and even though he didn't want to see her go...he would give it to her.

They found the cave that served as the entrance to the Akatsuki base, and Sasuke walked in a little way, turning down one of the tunnels. Just enough to be hidden from the outside world, but not far enough to be in the hideout proper.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked quietly when he turned to face her.

The dim light of the cave threw Sasuke's mind back to when they'd hidden in Manda...and that moment when he'd considered kissing her.

If he was going to let her go...couldn't he be selfish one more time?

He approached her slowly until he was barely an inch away from her.

Anyone else would have been intimidated by his advance, uncomfortable with his proximity...but even now, after all he had done to her, Sakura's eyes showed nothing but mild puzzlement at his actions.

Even now, she wasn't truly afraid of him. Sasuke took some comfort in that.

Sakura stared up at Sasuke, unable to decipher his motives for doing...whatever he was doing. If he expected to frighten her into cooperation (explaining why he'd left Juugo and Suigetsu behind) then he was going to be sadly disappointed.

But he was making no move to intimidate her. On the contrary, the hand that traced the side of her face before falling away again brought back memories of their stolen moment within Manda's mouth.

_'What's he trying to do?'_ she wondered.

But then he stepped forward, closing the last particle of distance between their faces as he dropped his head and kissed her.

To say Sakura was surprised would be a gross understatement. Her whole body froze, her green eyes staring blindly at Sasuke's closed lids.

Part of Sakura's mind (the part that was still functioning) could admit that when she had thought of Sasuke kissing her – which had happened more often that she liked to admit since she had healed him – she had imagined he would probably be forceful, maybe even a bit rough. It would have made sense for Sasuke to approach a kiss like it was some form of combat.

But instead, he was achingly gentle. His mouth rested only lightly against hers, and he made no move to deepen the kiss. He made no attempt to hold her in the kiss, either – their lips were their only point of contact, his arms hanging limp at his sides – Sakura's arms weren't moving either, but that was mainly out of shock.

He stepped back before she could respond, his eyes opening once more. And it might have Sakura's imagination, but she could have sworn he looked...sad.

"You're free to go," Sasuke said quietly, looking away from her.

Sakura gaped at him, certain she'd misheard. "What?"

"You're free to go," he repeated, sounding as though the words pained him.

He looked like he would have said something more, but he suddenly tensed, slowly turning around.

Sakura guessed that he'd sensed something.

"Is there someone there?" she asked, all business. She was a kunoichi, after all – strange kisses out of nowhere from childhood crushes you never really stopped loving could be pushed aside in favour of focusing on immediate threats.

Sasuke didn't answer, staring into the dim cave. "Who's there?"

A dark figure moved, lifting its head...and revealing Sharingan eyes.

"Hello, Sasuke."

Itachi was standing in front of them.

Sakura sucked in her breath in a stunned gasp, and beside her, she saw Sasuke become so tense it was a wonder his bones didn't snap beneath the force his muscles were exerting.

"You're not going to rush in screaming at me like last time?" Itachi commented.

Sasuke smirked, cold fury in every line of his face. "You don't know a thing about me."

Once again, the younger Uchiha moved too fast for Sakura to track. In the space of a moment, he was behind Itachi, piercing the elder with his lightning blade, using the solid electricity to cleave into Itachi's vital points.

Blood splattered the floor of the cave as Itachi's body fell to the earth.

Yet Sakura was still on edge. It couldn't possibly be that easy...

"You have become strong," Itachi murmured, his voice low but perfectly audible within the cave.

And then he dissolved, becoming a flock of crows.

"Doppelganger," Sakura whispered. Did that mean Itachi was close by?

Sasuke seemed to think so – he was starting to move deeper into the cave. Sakura made to follow him...when she suddenly felt her right wrist seized and twisted up across her body, forcing her against a hard, lean chest. The razor edge of a kunai pricked the skin of her throat, resting so close to the jugular vein she could feel each beat of her pulse push her skin against the blade.

She wrapped her left hand around the arm that held the weapon, automatically trying to tug it away from her neck even as she drew breath to scream...

"One move, one sound...and I will kill you," came Itachi's voice, right next to her ear.

Sakura froze.

Itachi didn't like what he was about do...but it was necessary. Sakura had a strange hold on Sasuke – if the kunoichi remained with his brother, Itachi was certain everything would go as it was meant to. At first, he had resented the extra variables she brought into his plan, but now he was certain that Sakura had to remain with Sasuke at all costs.

He had intended to just deliver his challenge to Sasuke and leave, but when he realised that his brother was preparing to farewell the girl...he knew he had to step in.

What he had planned now would not only ensure Sakura was with Sasuke when he killed him, but would also serve to increase his brother's thirst for his blood.

"Sasuke," he called quietly.

Sasuke spun around, and if Itachi had any doubts as to his brother's feelings for Sakura after the kiss they'd shared, they were wiped away in the emotions that flooded Sasuke's eyes when he saw her held hostage.

It was only for a moment, just a moment before his usual mask of anger and hatred slid back into place...but that moment had been enough. The depth of horror and blind panic in Sasuke's eyes in that instant spoke quite eloquently of just how much he valued the pink-haired medic.

"If you move, she dies," Itachi said quietly.

Something in Sasuke had frozen the moment he had turned around to see Sakura in Itachi's grasp, a kunai held against her neck. He clenched his fists against the urge to fly to her aid, not wanting to provoke Itachi into carrying out his threat.

Blood squelched up between his fingers, but Sasuke was oblivious to the pain. All his attention, all his focus, went to the two figures in front of him.

The curse seal pulsed – it often responded to anger and hatred, especially in the intensity Sasuke was feeling them now – and began to ripple across his body. Sasuke grit his teeth and attempted to push it back, but his normally flawless control of the seal was wavering, his usual iron restraint under attack by something primal and violent that screamed for him to tear Itachi apart and get Sakura back _right now!_

"Sasuke..."

Sakura's voice reached his ears – soft and concerned, with the slightest sour tinge of fear – and Sasuke clung to it, staring into gentle green eyes as though they could anchor him to sanity.

And miraculously, they did.

As it had done once before, so many years ago in the Forest of Death, the seal's hold on him ebbed beneath her gaze, shrinking back to its quiescent state, her simple plea restoring him to himself so quickly it was shocking.

Itachi watched the writhing curse marks retract, as though repelled by the sound of Sakura's voice, and something in him marveled.

He had watched the spread of the seal, wondering if Sasuke would force the confrontation and rush him beneath its corrupting influence. He had been preparing for just such an event...and then Sakura had spoken his brother's name, and the marks had slid away as though obeying some silent command.

Interesting...

But he couldn't focus on that now.

"Come alone to the Uchiha hideout," Itachi instructed. "We will settle things there."

Sasuke slowly nodded. He'd never imagined Itachi might issue a challenge to him – in all the scenarios he'd accounted for, it had always been him tracking down Itachi and forcing the confrontation.

"And it would probably be better for Sakura if you hurry."

_'What?'_

Then both Itachi and Sakura vanished in a cloud of black feathers.

"_NO!_" The shout was torn from Sasuke's throat. He rushed forward, reaching futilely for where Sakura had been, but his hand ended up hitting the unyielding cave wall.

For a moment, Sasuke was frozen, staring at the empty space that had so recently been occupied by a pink-haired woman, not wanting to believe what every one of his senses were telling him.

Itachi had taken Sakura.

Something hard and sharp and hot rose in his throat like bile. He was somehow more furious than he thought he'd ever been in his life and at the same time, almost nauseous with horror at what had just happened.

Itachi had taken Sakura.

-xxx-

"_Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."_

_-Kahlil Gibran_

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye for beta-ing, as always!_


	15. Facades

**Chapter 15**

**Facades**

"_Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense."  
-Mark A. Overby _

-xxx-

Sasuke stared numbly at the spot where Itachi and Sakura had disappeared.

_'You fool!'_ he screamed at himself. _'You shouldn't have kissed her – that's why he took her! He saw it and now he knows what she means to you!'_

Sasuke dug the heels of his hands into his eyes, as though if he pressed hard enough, he could erase the image of Sakura's frightened face as Itachi spirited her away.

His fingers automatically formed the seals that would transport him to the Uchiha hideout, but he stopped himself. It would take an enormous amount of chakra to transport himself across that vast distance. And if he faced Itachi while low on chakra...

Sasuke knew what would happen. He'd lose, and Sakura would be left with his brother.

He'd have to get to the Uchiha hideout on his own two feet. Itachi might be willing to squander chakra in teleportation, but Sasuke wasn't about to take the risk – there was too much at stake.

"Hey, Sasuke!" came Suigetsu's voice behind him. "Karin sensed another chakra...hey, where's Princess?"

"He took her!" Sasuke barely recognised his voice – it was low and gravelly, sounding more animal then human. "Itachi took Sakura!"

-xxx-

Sasuke knew, logically, that he should slow down. Itachi had issued the challenge, so he would presumably be waiting there for some time. He knew he could rest and restore himself, be truly prepared for the confrontation...

But in the meantime, Itachi had Sakura. And Sasuke wasn't leaving her in the hands of his brother for one moment longer than he had to – the thought of Sakura at Itachi's mercy made him feel sick.

_'He won't kill her,'_ he told himself in an effort to calm the wild, erratic pounding of his heart that had nothing to do with the frantic pace he had set. _'If he wanted her dead, he would have slit her throat without a moment's hesitation. He wants her alive, he'll keep her alive...'_

But that did little to silence the forbidding whispers of how spirited Sakura was, of how much defiance she would show Itachi...and what the Akatsuki might do to subdue her. If she challenged Itachi's power, would he sentence her to a few days of agony in Tsukiyomi to impress that power upon her?

_'He wants her alive, he wants her alive...'_

Of course, those thoughts begged the question of exactly what Itachi wanted Sakura alive for. If the Akatsuki were really after the tailed demons...did that mean Itachi was even now torturing her for information on Naruto?

Sasuke put an extra edge on his already extraordinary speed. He knew he was forcing the others to labour to keep up, but he just couldn't bring himself to care.

"There's a whole bunch of identical chakras all around us," Karin panted.

_'Doppelgangers,'_ Sasuke realised. Apparently Naruto was among the Leaf party that was tracking them. But then again, he should have expected nothing less.

"We keep going!" he barked.

If they ran into one of the doppelgangers...then they'd deal with it. Sasuke knew how advantageous it would be to have the Konoha ninjas at the hideout – a retinue of Leaf nins would ensure Sakura was freed and escorted to Konoha in safety...but what were the odds of them believing his story and not trying to drag him back or kill him on sight? And even if they would believe him, Sasuke didn't have the time to explain everything to them.

Sakura needed him.

And every second wasted was another second she spent in Itachi's grasp. Sasuke found his fingers automatically beginning to form the seals needed for a teleportation jutsu and clenched his fists, disengaging his hands.

_'Do! Not! Teleport! If you are drained when you face him he will kill you!'_

He had to grit his teeth against the urge to scream the words, dredging up the iron-clad self-discipline that he had forged all throughout the long years of training to avenge his family.

But whenever he thought of Sakura – _Sakura_ – in the hands of his brother, he could practically feel his self-discipline splintering apart.

And beneath his fury and worry, guilt churned like bitter acid in his stomach. If he had set her free in the motel – when he _should_ have – then this would never have happened...

There was a flash of yellow up ahead, and Sasuke welcomed the distraction from his increasingly-dark thoughts of what Sakura might already be enduring. The splotch of yellow resolved itself into a wild mop of blonde hair...that was attached to a very familiar face.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke didn't slow his pace for a moment. He swept his arm out to the side, intending to snatch Naruto's shoulder and sweep him along with them.

"Naruto, listen up-"

But as soon as his palm slammed into the blonde's shoulder, the man disappeared in a puff of smoke.

He must have been one of the doppelgangers. Sasuke swore, but continued on. While it would have been useful to have Naruto along to safeguard Sakura, he wasn't about to diverge from his headlong flight to seek another clone. He and his team would have to be enough.

Though Hebi was rapidly tiring of his punishing pace. He had expected some form of complaint, but all three had made no protest.

Juugo was silent, as he often was, but his face was wearing an expression fiercer than any Sasuke had ever seen on him outside of his rages. Suigetsu, who would usually have been whining for a rest by now, hadn't made one complaint, the only expression on his features one of grim determination.

And Karin...well, she probably just sensed he wasn't in the mood to hear any objections.

They were going to the Uchiha hideout, and they were going there as fast as they possibly could.

-xxx-

"I've found him!" Naruto called as one of his doppelganger's ceased to exist and thusly transferred its knowledge and experience to him. "Follow me – I think there's a problem!"

"Why would you say that?" Kakashi asked, running level with him.

"Because Sakura wasn't with them," the Kyuubi vessel practically growled. "There was Sasuke and three other people, but Sakura wasn't there!"

"So they split up?" Yamato offered. "Sakura escaped?"

"The bastard was looking pretty damn worried," Naruto commented.

He doubted anyone else would have seen it. Sasuke was so expressionless it made him very hard to read...but once you learned how, a wealth of information could be conveyed by the minutest shift in his facial muscles.

And Naruto could tell that Sasuke had been practically screaming.

-xxx-

_'This has got to be some sort of record,'_ a small, lucid and strangely calm corner of Sakura's brain remarked. _'This is what, my third consecutive kidnapping? First Sound, then Sasuke, and now Itachi! When did I become such a hot commodity?'_

The rest of her mind was busy trying to come up with some sort of game plan.

Itachi had released her as soon as the teleportation was complete, and Sakura had found herself in a large stone chamber. Several steps lead to a raised portion of the floor in which a large stone chair rested, like a throne. The Uchiha crest was carved on the walls, but strangely, the wall behind the throne had a motif of nine coils.

Sakura had a sneaking suspicion it was intended to represent the Kyuubi.

But the most bizarre feature of the room was that it seemed to be crumbling – the walls and floor were all chipped and cracked, pitted with large holes in some places.

Itachi was in front of her, surveying her with interest, but now there was a good distance between their bodies. He had made no effort to bind or restrain her, as though his presence was enough to hold her captive.

And he might be right about that, Sakura could admit. He'd just transported both of them across a staggering distance and he didn't look fatigued in the slightest. She'd only ever faced one of Itachi's projections (she didn't think she could call that technique a clone)...and that had been difficult enough. She shuddered to think of how powerful the real Itachi was.

Sakura's eyes darted towards the room's entrance, and she wondered if there was any way she could possibly move fast enough to reach it before he did.

"I will advise you now against trying to escape," Itachi said, his tone even but somehow conveying a thousand threats.

He stepped forward, and Sakura moved backwards, automatically trying to keep several feet between her and the mass-murderer.

But she hadn't taken two steps before she felt cool stone against her back. Itachi's advance didn't halt in the slightest and Sakura felt fear tickle at the back of her mind, reminding her that she was standing in front of _Itachi_, without a weapon and unable to throw even a single chakra-enhanced punch.

The Uchiha halted when he was perhaps six inches in front of her and Sakura looked down, automatically avoiding his eyes in case he tried to use the Mangekyou on her. He didn't say anything, he didn't move, and Sakura had the feeling she was being studied like a specimen in a petri dish.

Sakura couldn't deny that she was scared. But she refused to give in to her fear, setting her jaw and squaring her shoulders. It took more than a little invasion of personal space to subdue her!

But she didn't look him in the eye, of course – that would have just been stupid.

Itachi considered the woman before him carefully. He had never passed up an opportunity to deepen Sasuke's hatred of him (after all, the more his brother detested him, the more willing he would be to do what needed to be done) and he knew he had a rich, untapped mine of opportunity in front of him. The hatred and anger over the death of their family had been given many years to cool, to become smouldering, calculated resentment instead of the wild inferno it once was.

Sakura represented a perfect opportunity to fan those flames once again – in spite of his protests, it was obvious Sasuke cared deeply for her.

Itachi would not kill her, as Sakura was necessary at a later stage...but what else could he do?

He considered the woman before him, noting the collar that encircled her neck, and found himself wondering what Sasuke would do if he raped her.

The idea was distasteful, and if he did it she would undoubtedly be traumatised – she wouldn't want Sasuke to touch her...

On the other hand, he didn't need to actually rape her – he just needed to make Sasuke _believe_ he'd raped her.

"I will apologise in advance for what I am about to do," Itachi intoned. "But it is necessary."

Sakura blinked, startled by his regretful tone, and fought the urge to look at his face.

The medic was unable to hold in a screech of shock and pain when Itachi abruptly seized her shirt and – putting his strength into it – literally tore the clothing from her body. The tattered material fluttered to the ground, leaving her bra exposed, and Sakura struck out at Itachi, trying to put some space between them.

"I am not going to rape you," he snapped, catching her wrist and slamming it painfully back against the wall. "I only need to create the illusion of it."

"For what – Sasuke?" Sakura spat, struggling against his hold. "I don't think he'll care what you do to me; I'm just an annoyance to him!"

Even she knew that wasn't strictly true – that kiss had to mean _something_, right? – but she wasn't about to tell Itachi that.

"Annoyance?" Itachi mused, his voice mild. "I think not – you are much more to Sasuke than just an annoyance."

Sakura remained silent, writhing mutinously in his hold, and yet at the same time unwilling to outright attack him in case that provoked something. The tension in the air was making her chest ache, and she wished she still had her shirt on.

"There are many things in Sasuke's life which provoke his rage, his hatred...but I have never seen anything that calmed him. Until today. He controlled himself...for you."

Itachi was perfectly honest in his assessment of his brother. He had seen firsthand how easily Sasuke could be driven to rage...but he had never seen anything capable of checking Sasuke's fury. At a word from Sakura, he controlled himself. For her, he stayed his hand when he would otherwise lash out.

"No matter what he might say otherwise, my brother will go to great lengths to ensure your safety."

With that, he reached out and snagged the right strap of her bra, snapping the elastic and causing a red weal to rise on her skin. Sakura snarled and raised her knee, trying to catch him in the groin, but Itachi released her wrist and stepped back, out of her immediate range.

"Are you going to be difficult?" he asked, not sounding as if he cared one way or the other.

"What the hell do you think?" Sakura exploded, one hand clutching at her broken bra strap so she wouldn't be exposed.

She had no idea what possible motive Itachi would have for trying to make it appear as if he'd raped her, but she knew that it wouldn't be to Sasuke's benefit. Her eyes remained locked on his feet, trying to predict his next move, but she was inexperienced in such combat and was caught by surprise when his feet suddenly disappeared from her view.

The next thing she knew, she had been spun around and shoved face first into the wall. The rough stone scraped against her cheek, and she winced as she felt the skin part. Itachi's body was against her own, a solid pressure keeping her pinned neatly against the wall.

A hand slid over her hips, unbuckling her belt and deliberately snapping the metal tongue off – Sakura heard it ping against the floor when it fell. Her pants fell to rest precariously low on her hips, slipping down to puddle at her ankles when Itachi ripped away the button that fastened them closed.

Sakura tried to kick backwards, but the cloth fouled her legs. She swore viciously into the wall, then jerked an elbow backwards and upwards. She connected with solid flesh and was rewarded with a soft hiss of displeasure. Itachi's grip on her loosened and Sakura pushed away from the wall, trying to gain enough room to turn around in...

Itachi's hand fisted in the medic's hair, driving her forward in retaliation. Sakura's head cracked against the stone, stunning her. The momentary laxness of her body allowed Itachi the opening he needed to seize both her wrists in one of his hands, pushing them against the wall to nail her in place.

Her blow had split his lip, but he was actually pleased by that. Itachi knew if this charade was to be believable, he had to have marks on him as well – Sakura would not have submitted tamely to him.

She seemed to have recovered from the blow to her head and was now writhing and twisting against him once more, her hands spasming in his. A chakra scalpel flickered to life between her fingers and Itachi tightened his grip – he couldn't give her an opportunity to slip free and wield it.

His free hand dropped to her breast and squeezed viciously. Sakura yelped but Itachi paid it no mind, releasing her when he was certain she was bruising, only to drop his hand to her inner thigh and apply similar pressure there.

Sakura had the feeling she should have been much more frightened by the hand that was roaming her body than she actually was. But Itachi had said himself that he wasn't going to rape her, and Sakura saw no reason to disbelieve him – why would he lie? The fingers that were biting into her flesh seemed cold and distant; there was no hunger behind them, no desire to prove his power, no need to subjugate and dominate her.

This assault was nothing but a deliberate, calculated attempt to produce a myriad of bruises on her that would make it look like she had been violated.

But that didn't mean she'd take it lying down. Since she couldn't kick back at him, Sakura settled for shifting her foot backwards and digging her heel into his instep. Itachi's grip loosened in a reflex to pain, and Sakura yanked her arms down, her chakra scalpel parting the flesh of her captor's palm.

Itachi stepped backwards rapidly as Sakura spun around. He moved far enough to be out of the range of debilitating injuries, but he deliberately held himself in place so her extended chakra scalpel could make a clean, shallow cut along his collarbone.

Then he moved with the speed he was known for, knocked her hands aside and seized her wrists again, pushing her harshly against the wall behind her.

Itachi surveyed her with a critical eye, like an artist considering the finishing touches to a painting. She looked like a woman who had been thoroughly ravished. Her clothes lay in tatters at her feet, there was a sluggishly bleeding wound on her head that oozed red into her pink locks, her underclothes were dirtied and crumpled, and he'd made sure that the bruises adorning her body were concentrated on her arms, hips, thighs and breasts.

Sakura was panting slightly with the effort of struggling against him, and when he dipped his head and deliberately bit her collarbone, she gritted her teeth against a reflexive yelp and bucked against him, trying to kick her pants off over her boots so she'd be free to strike out at him with her legs.

He tightened his hold on her wrists and bit her once more, this time on the soft skin of her neck above the collar, drawing blood.

Sakura let out a guttural snarl and twisted against him. One of his hands loosened, and Sakura swiftly slammed a fist into his face. Itachi's head snapped back, but the hand that still held her wrist twisted violently, and Sakura found herself thrown neatly to the ground.

Itachi planted a foot on her neck to keep her down, satisfied by the sluggishly bleeding indents of his teeth in her skin, and pleased at the throbbing ache that had taken up residence in his jaw. He was sure that by now he looked bruised enough to give the illusion that he'd had to struggle violently with Sakura.

The medic coughed against the pressure on her throat, her hands gripping Itachi's ankle, trying to get enough leverage for a violent twist that would force him off her. She had never resented the collar more – if it wasn't a factor, she could have broken his leg like a toothpick.

He released her abruptly, as though he had come to some sort of decision, and Sakura scrambled backwards and upright, kicking away the pants that tangled her ankles.

Of course, this left her in nothing but her underwear, but Sakura had bigger problems than a little embarrassment. She pressed herself against the stone, her eyes darting to the doorway, toying with the idea of escaping...but at the same time, she knew she didn't stand a chance and she didn't want to invite Itachi into close physical contact again.

Itachi wondered how to incapacitate the woman in front of him. She couldn't be allowed to interfere, but at the same time, he needed her conscious – as a witness to corroborate Sasuke's story.

He knew about the collar she was wearing; it was made to restrict chakra by interfering with chakra channels. The chakra itself was still present, but only a limited amount could be utilised. And if the wearer pushed their limits, they would often become dizzy and sometimes even pass out.

But the collar's difficulty lay in the seal that was carved onto the inside of the lock, preventing the collar from being opened without the seal being released first. And if the collar was cut away, the breaking of the seal caused the release of a toxin that caused paralysis, intended to incapacitate the slave who was attempting to escape so they could be found and recaptured.

Itachi knew what he could do.

"Hold still," he instructed Sakura mildly, drawing a kunai.

Sakura stiffened, barely registering his words before she felt a sudden brush of cool, sharp metal against her neck. Sher jerked backwards, but Itachi closed one hand around the base of the collar and yanked it away from the back of her neck. Sakura yelped as the needle was pulled out, but promptly forgot the pain when she saw the collar resting in Itachi's hands, the leather parted by a smooth, clean cut.

And he'd never even nicked her skin.

For a moment, she felt fine. Then numbness washed through her body with astonishing speed, and every muscle suddenly felt like it was made of water. Her legs folded and she tumbled into Itachi's arms, unable to even so much as cry out.

The Uchiha was surprisingly gentle as he lifted her, moving to the centre of the room and depositing her on the cold stone. He arranged her unresponsive limbs almost artistically, half-curled into her as though she had tried to pull herself into a fetal position. Itachi noted the blood from his palm was smearing across her skin, and deliberately crumpled the corner of her underwear in one fist, letting the blood seep into the fabric.

He hooked her pants around her ankles once more, and placed the shredded remnants of her shirt about her, trying to make it appear as though he just ripped at her clothes, took what he wanted, and then left her where she lay.

Such blatant dismissal and humiliation of her would only enrage Sasuke further.

Itachi knew that Sasuke had been given many years to think over the events of the massacre and his glib explanation for it. And he knew that a lot of pieces wouldn't be adding up for him. Itachi was quite certain that any confrontation between him and Sasuke would involve several very pertinent questions...questions he hoped to avoid.

If his brother thought he had raped Sakura, it was possible he would simply decapitate him in a fit of rage rather then check himself for the sake of information.

Sakura felt Itachi position her on the floor, her limbs as unresponsive as lead weights even as she screamed at them to move. But even through her desperation, some part of her registered that this was certainly a very elaborate ruse Itachi was concocting – what was the point? He wanted Sasuke to think he'd raped her...why? What could it possibly gain him?

Unless, after all these years, provoking Sasuke had become some kind of game to him.

She saw Itachi grasp the collar and break the needle off before settling it around her neck, giving the illusion that it was still intact. Her body was turned towards the entrance, and for a moment she hoped she'd be able to see Sasuke come in, but Itachi deliberately brushed a few locks of hair over her face, obscuring her eyes, obviously intending for Sasuke to believe she was unconscious when he came in.

Considering that her body felt as though it was nothing more than a lump of marble she was imprisoned in, there was absolutely no way she could let Sasuke know she was conscious if he couldn't see her eyes.

The fact that she couldn't even push her hair out of her face both irritated and frightened her. Loss of control had never sat well with her, and Sakura had to fight an almost smothering feeling of claustrophobia. The fact that her hair was essentially blinding her didn't help with her fear, either.

A very desperate battle was about to begin and she was completely helpless – she wouldn't even be able to roll out of the way. Hell, she wouldn't even see an attack coming!

_'Calm down,'_ Sakura told herself. _'Panicking will get you nowhere. Focus, think clearly, and figure out a way out of this!'_

But what could she do if she couldn't move?

But as Sakura forced her mind to go over what she knew about the collar, she realised there was something she could do. The collar worked via chemicals, which meant that this paralysis had probably been triggered by the release of a toxin, so if she could channel chakra into her body, especially her liver, she could detox her system and probably recover much faster.

So Sakura slowly, carefully, tried to funnel her chakra. It was difficult, mainly because she couldn't move. Medics traditionally channeled chakra to the affected site via their hands, simply because it was far easier to move chakra to the hands and out than to let it transverse the complex systems throughout the body to reach what it needed.

And as Sakura had to do this without the use of her arms...she knew it was going to take awhile.

Well, it wasn't like she was going anywhere.

-xxx-

Sasuke fairly flew through the ruined city towards the hideout, not slowing his pace in the slightest even when Karin shouted about a large chakra approaching them at great speed.

A flutter of the Akatsuki cloak, and then Kisame was standing in front of them, his gigantic sword slung over his shoulder.

"Where is she?" Sasuke's words were dangerously quiet.

"She is with Itachi," Kisame said mildly. "Sasuke, please continue on alone. Itachi would prefer it if the rest of us waited here."

"You three stay here!" Sasuke snapped. While he would have preferred that they come along to ensure Sakura was taken away from the battlefield, he wasn't about to take the risk that Itachi might hurt her if anyone but himself approached.

"Hey, if the guy's got Princess, shouldn't we come along?" Suigetsu piped up, a little winded – a result of the frenetic pace Sasuke had forced them to keep. "I mean, we should make sure she gets away, right?"

But he was talking to empty air. Sasuke had already gone on.

Suigetsu swore.

"I'm sure Sasuke will take care of Sakura," Juugo said quietly, sounding as though he were trying to convince himself. He clutched Sakura's pack like a talisman, and there was a look in his eye that suggested he was struggling with his bloodlust.

Suigetsu shrugged, letting the matter drop. He eyed Kisame and considered challenging him – that was the whole reason he had gone along with Sasuke, after all – but just as quickly dismissed it. The punishing run to the hideout had left him too exhausted to attempt to fight a man so strong.

And if Juugo snapped, he wanted to be fit enough to get out of the way in a hurry.

-xxx-

"You took your time, Sasuke," Itachi remarked as his brother entered. "I'm afraid Sakura and I had to entertain ourselves without you."

Sasuke knew he was looking at doppelgangers, with the real Itachi and Sakura disguised with genjutsu– his Sharingan told him that much – but he could also tell that Sakura's condition matched Itachi's transformed doppelganger exactly.

The same state of undress, the same bruises curling about her body like shadows.

Sasuke told himself that the red rage that swamped him was because he faced the killer of his family. But he knew it was lie – that had been given time to settle, and was cold and sharp, hard and calculated now. This was the red hot, liquid burn of a fresh wound, a new fury.

And its source was Sakura – unconscious, curled in pain and obviously violated on the cold stone floor.

While he had run towards the Uchiha hideout, he had feared that Sakura might be suffering in Itachi's Mangekyou. The thought that his brother might rape her had never once crossed his mind.

_'I should have teleported...'_

"You should have left her out of this." Sasuke could practically taste adrenaline and fury on his tongue.

Itachi let out a soft, mocking sound that Sasuke didn't think could be called a laugh. "But it was you who brought her into this."

Itachi could feel the threatening pulses of Sasuke's chakra filling the room – his brother was reacting exactly as Itachi had thought he would. Since the collapse of Sound, many people had been telling tales, and he'd paid particular attention to those involving Sasuke.

Particularly those of how Sakura came to be with him. The fate of a Konoha woman in a Sound base was never pleasant – Itachi suspected that Sakura being raped was an old fear of Sasuke's, and he had not simply hit that button, he had sent a lightning strike into it.

Sasuke dragged his eyes away from Sakura, knowing that if he kept looking at her battered body his cool resolve would go flying out the window, along with his control of the cursed seal. Carefully, subtly, he cast a genjutsu, allowing his illusion to grapple with the doppelganger – confident it would seem real – as he crept up behind the throne.

He was inches away from Sakura's motionless form, and he quelled the urge to reach out to her – he had to deal with Itachi first.

While Sakura's crumpled body was all-too real, he could tell that the Itachi sitting in the chair wasn't – the actual Itachi (and the actual chair) was several feet behind the illusion, hidden by genjutsu. But Sasuke decided to act as though he believed the genjutsu was real – it might help to lull Itachi, and he could keep the element of surprise on his side.

So when his genjutsu self defeated Itachi's doppelganger, Sasuke drove his sword through the back of the stone chair, impaling Itachi's genjutsu straight through the chest...but not fatally.

"I have one last question for you," he hissed, playing his part to the hilt.

"A question?" Itachi mused. "I thought you would have wanted to kill me on the spot...especially after what I did to little Sakura."

Blood pulsed through Sasuke's veins, echoing in his ears and momentarily drowning Itachi's words in a rush of fury. His teeth ground together, and it took every particle of will he had not to lunge for the real Itachi and attempt to tear his heart from his chest.

His cursed seal shivered, a few of the marks slipping past his wavering control and sliding across his shoulders.

"Who is the third Uchiha survivor?" he asked, as though his brother had never spoken.

Sakura stared into her hair, unable to so much as blink on her own initiative. What was she hearing? There was a third Uchiha?

"Why do you want to know about him?" Itachi remarked, but it sounded rather wet to Sakura's ears, as though he were choking on something.

"Because I'm going to kill him after I kill you!" Sasuke spat. "On that night...you said there was a third person. I realised it could only be someone you didn't kill, which meant that they must've helped you wipe out the rest of the clan – even you couldn't have killed Konoha's entire military police force on your own. So who is it?"

"Uchiha Madara."

_'What?'_ was all that flew through Sakura's brain. _'Wasn't that one of Konoha's founders...so wouldn't he be dead by now? Unless there was someone else in the clan named Madara...'_

She could vaguely hear Sasuke making objections that matched her own, and tuned back in to the surreal conversation, curious in spite of herself.

"Madara is very much alive," came Itachi's voice once more. "Whether you believe me or not is your choice."

"I've had enough of your bullshit!" Sasuke snarled – not unreasonably, Sakura felt.

"People live their lives bound by what they accept as true, and that's how they define their reality," Itachi said, and Sakura thought it was an odd time to wax philosophical. "But truth is merely a vague concept, and as such their reality may actually be a mirage."

"What are you getting at?" Sasuke was sounding more and more irritated.

"The way you simply decided that Madara must be dead. The way you believed I was a kind, caring brother."

Sakura couldn't actually wince, but she cringed mentally on Sasuke's behalf.

Sasuke felt rage course painfully through his body. All Itachi's babblings about truth and reality were nothing but mindless drivel – the reality was his parent's bodies lying in a pool of blood, the reality was an unconscious and raped Sakura barely a foot away from him.

The reality was that Itachi was a monster. A monster that he was finally going to slay.

-xxx-

"_Those who hate most fervently must have once loved deeply, those who want to deny the world must have once embraced what they now set on fire."_

_-Kurt Tucholsky_

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallemefaye for beta-ing. And a big thank you to my anonymous reviewers!_


	16. Confrontation

**Chapter 16**

**Confrontation**

"_Never completely encircle your enemy. Leave him some escape, for he will fight even more desperately if trapped."_

_-Alex Haley_

-xxx-

Sasuke spun, his lightning blade screaming through the air to drive itself into the stone an inch past the real Itachi's cheek. He pulled his katana out as the genjutsu faded, some part of him bizarrely comforted by the fact that he now had real, visual confirmation that he was between Sakura and Itachi.

"You still don't have the same eyes as me," Itachi commented.

"Then use the Mangekyou Sharingan and try to kill me now!" Sasuke challenged.

"The Mangekyou Sharingan has a unique characteristic," Itachi said as he rose.

Sasuke's brow furrowed. What the hell was this? The bastard had challenged him, practically slapping him in the face by kidnapping Sakura into the bargain (especially considering what he had done to her, though Sasuke was doing his best not to dwell on that) and so far, all he had done was lecture him.

"From the day it is activated, the user begins to go blind. The more you use it, the faster the process occurs."

_'Probably a good idea Sasuke didn't kill Naruto, then,'_ Sakura mused wryly.

Sasuke made note of that information – it seemed blindness was the eventual price the Uchiha paid for control of the Kyuubi.

But frankly, he had more pressing things to discuss. "Who is Madara?"

"A man who controlled the Kyuubi like one would a dog. My accomplice and my teacher. The only person in history to discover the Sharingan's final secret...an invincible immortal."

Sakura tried to curl her fingers and was rewarded when she felt the muscles in her arm twitch. The end result wasn't anything close to actual movement, but it was something.

"There's more to the Sharingan than being able to control the Kyuubi?" she could hear Sasuke asking.

"Yes. The last...and most important piece of the puzzle," Itachi replied, his eyes slowly shifting to the Mangekyou.

"What is it?" Sasuke snapped, tired of Itachi's cryptic words.

"The story is one about our clan's history," Itachi intoned. "A story about Madara Uchiha and his brother...his younger brother."

Sakura listened with half an ear, the full force of her concentration going to purging her system of...whatever the collar had pumped into her when Itachi cut it. She vaguely registered Itachi's narration of the brothers who both obtained the Mangekyou Sharingan and rose to control the Uchiha clan, with Madara at its head. But Madara had begun to go blind, and in desperation, had plucked the eyes from his brother's head and implanted them in his own sockets.

Frankly, Sakura thought that action had 'psychopath' written all over it. If she was going blind, her first reaction wouldn't be to rip out someone else's eyes and stick them in her head.

But apparently that was what had been needed – by changing hosts, Madara gained a permanent Mangekyou Sharingan, one that wouldn't slowly deteriorate. His power allowed him to gain control of every shinobi clan the Uchiha came into contact with, and eventually the Uchiha's alliance with the Senju clan gave birth to Konoha. But he and the First Hokage had quarreled over village policies, and though Madara lost the battle for control of Konoha he went on to form the Akatsuki.

Itachi also revealed that Madara had been behind the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha, but again he was stopped, this time by the Fourth Hokage.

And it seemed Itachi now wanted to succeed Uchiha Madara...and to do that, he would need to take Sasuke's eyes.

_'Come on, come on,'_ Sakura chanted, silently willing her liver and kidneys to filter the drug faster.

Sasuke wondered if he should feel something. An increase in fury, in hate...but he only felt unnaturally calm.

He shed his black cloak, giving his body room to transform if it was needed.

It was time to end this once and for all. He peeled away the bandages on his forearms, giving himself easy access to the seals on his wrists that would release shuriken.

He thought he heard Sakura make some kind of muffled sound, but he didn't dare turn his back on Itachi to check on her.

Instead, he ran his fingers over the seals, summoning two shuriken and letting them fly towards his brother. He wasn't really surprised when Itachi countered them exactly, the weapons colliding in mid-air and tumbling to the stone floor with metallic pings.

So Sasuke summoned more. He called forth a rain of sharpened steel, but each shuriken was countered by one of his brother's...and it was difficult to both keep his eyes on his brother and ensure that no shuriken could fly past him and hit the incapacitated Sakura at the same time.

Itachi lunged, and Sasuke lunged too. Itachi aimed for his face with a kunai in hand, and Sasuke's fingers shot out and caught his brother's wrist even as he swept his sword towards Itachi's side. Itachi's hand gripped his forearm, jerking the blade to a halt.

For a moment, the stalemate held...until Sasuke saw another figure loom up behind Itachi, a doppelganger that flung three kunai at his face.

So Sasuke called one of his snakes, the serpent twisting its body around him to take the attack before lunging for Itachi, fangs bared. The older Uchiha leapt back, away from the poison those fangs represented, and Sasuke wasted no time in summoning a fuuma shuriken.

The snake dropped away, vanishing in a burst of smoke, and Sasuke charged the weapon with Chidori before he sent it hurtling towards his opponent. The doppelganger tried to counter it with a kunai, but the power of the Chidori ensured it sliced through the kunai like a hot knife through butter, carving into the body beyond...

The doppelganger dissolved into a mass of crows, and the Mangekyou Sharingan spun.

Sasuke knew he was within Tsukiyomi. Itachi had gone through some trouble to disguise it, but Sasuke had suffered through it before, and he never forgot the insidious feel of that particular genjutsu.

Itachi slammed him into the wall, driving a fist into his gut and pinning him against the stone with one hand twisted over his head and a heavy foot nailing his own to the floor.

_'Overcome it!'_ he told himself firmly. _'Overcome it!'_

"I'm sorry, Sasuke," Itachi intoned as greedy fingers reached for his left eye.

_'Overcome it!'_

Sasuke's thoughts were broken by the blast of searing, white-hot pain that ripped through him as Itachi tore his eye from its socket. For a moment, he forgot that he was locked in a genjutsu, he forgot that it wasn't real, he forgot everything but the agony.

He might have screamed – he wasn't sure. His free hand automatically rose to cup the empty socket, and Sasuke felt hot blood wet his palm.

"I warned you," Itachi said, sounding as though he were scolding a child that had been playing with something dangerous. "Without the Mangekyou Sharingan, you don't stand a chance."

_'It's not real,'_ Sasuke screamed at himself. _'This isn't real – control yourself!'_

"Now for the other one," Itachi whispered.

Even though this was only genjutsu, the cursed seal erupted, one of his wings sprouting from his shoulder and knocking Itachi away from him.

_'Overcome it!'_ Sasuke coached himself, watching in horrified fascination as Itachi produced a jar filled with clear fluid from his cloak and dropped the eyeball into it.

The next thing Sasuke knew, a doppelganger was flickering into life behind him and catching him in a stranglehold. But that made sense – Tsukiyomi was Itachi's dimension, and he could shape the world around them as he willed.

_'Overcome it!'_

The doppelganger held him as Itachi approached, hand outstretched and reaching for his one remaining eye.

"This is it, Sasuke," Itachi said as his fingertips began to dig into the soft tissue surrounding his younger brother's eye. "I'll have your eyes. And – perhaps more importantly – I'll have Sakura..."

That was it. With a burst of raw fury, Sasuke finally found his will working on the torturous dimension as the world around him began to fracture, splitting apart as he forced his way from Tsukiyomi.

When he came to himself he was standing in the stone room again, both his eyes intact and whole in his head.

A sense of vertigo swamped him, sending him reeling to his knees.

But Itachi had collapsed to his own knees, panting and clutching at his left eye. With a smirk, Sasuke slowly regained his feet.

Itachi did the same, though markedly more slowly.

For a moment, the brothers held each other's stare...but the tension was broken by the loud sound of flesh smacking hard against stone, and a soft hiss.

Though loathe to turn away from his brother, Sasuke jerked his head to the side just enough to glimpse the pink-haired woman behind him.

Sakura was no longer on her side, but sprawled on her belly...and one hand was braced against the ground as she slowly, painfully, endeavored to push herself upright.

It was as though she could barely move.

"What did you do to her?" he found himself snapping.

"Just something to make her more...cooperative, so to speak," Itachi told him, turning his hand towards Sasuke, showing a long gash that scored his palm, identical to the one across his collarbone. "She is extremely proficient in the use of chakra scalpels, and not at all hesitant to fight to defend herself...even if she knows it will be a losing battle."

Itachi watched the muscles in Sasuke's jaw jump violently, feeling his brother's gaze skim the bruise on his face, his split lip...knowing Sasuke would be picturing the circumstances in which they were inflicted.

"But don't be so greedy with your little toy, Sasuke, I'm sure I remember our mother teaching you to share."

Sasuke's throat trembled with the urge to shout at him. To shriek that he had no right to speak of their mother, to scream that Sakura wasn't a plaything...

Itachi knew his words were like flint against tinder – he could see it in Sasuke's eyes. There was the rage, yes, the hatred that had always been there...but now they were so much darker. Sasuke's yearning for his death had been made vivid and sharp – given new life and strength – by this fresh betrayal.

By Itachi's rape of the woman Sasuke loved.

Sasuke took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to banish the grotesque mental images that Itachi's words had splattered through his mind like blood. He hadn't allowed himself to think of what Sakura had suffered – he couldn't. He had spent years harnessing the rage he had felt at the death of his clan, turning it into the sort of cold fury that would allow him to face Itachi with a clear head.

He might almost say the wound had scabbed over somewhat.

But this...what had been done to Sakura was like laying that injury open again and grinding salt into it.

_'Don't think about it!'_ he told himself. _'Not now. Focus on Itachi, focus on killing him!'_

He wouldn't think about what Itachi had done to Sakura – he couldn't. He knew that if he even allowed himself to contemplate it, he'd collapse in a ball of despair.

-xxx-

If Sakura had been capable of flinching, she would have done so when she heard the clattering of metal against metal. Her trained ears told her it was the sound of shuriken, and for several moments she was afraid she was suddenly going to feel sharp metal embed itself into her back.

But there was nothing, and this time, when she tried to move her arm, she was rewarded with a slight shift. It wasn't much, but it was enough for her to slowly, painfully curl her arms under her body.

Her muscles felt as though they were gripped by numb cramps – painless, but uncooperative. It took some time to ease them under her, and when she tried to lever herself into something approaching an upright position, she rose perhaps three inches before her limbs buckled and she fell to the ground again, smacking the side of her face against the stone.

Attempting to sit up mere seconds after first regaining control in her paralysed limbs might have been a little too ambitious.

Sakura hissed in pain as her cheek stung, but – never one to give up easily – braced one trembling arm against the floor and tried to at least turn herself over.

She could hear Itachi and Sasuke talking once more, but this time she ignored them in favour of struggling with her recalcitrant muscles. She tried to swear, but her face still wasn't quite obeying her, and all she could let out was a vicious mumble.

Stupid collar. Even broken and useless, it was still making her life difficult.

-xxx-

Itachi suddenly shut his right eye, his hands flying through the seals that Sasuke guessed would awaken Amaterasu, the black flame. The younger Uchiha touched his fingers to his wrist, summoning two fuuma shuriken, rigged with wire. He charged them with Chidori, unleashing one at the height of Itachi's neck, the other level with his ankles.

Itachi moved in a way that Sasuke was quite sure would be impossible for any non-ninja, somehow managing to duck and jump at the same time to avoid the weapons. For a moment, his body was almost horizontal in the air as the shuriken passed above and below him.

Sasuke tugged on the wires in his hand, causing the shuriken to split apart, their blades separating from each other and flying in all directions.

Even as one of the blades drove into Itachi's thigh, Sasuke was watching the flight path of the others, ensuring none of them strayed close to Sakura.

Itachi was on his knees again, this time pulling a blade from his mutilated leg.

Sasuke gave him no time to recover, and sent a fireball roaring towards Itachi. The elder brother leapt into the air to avoid the flames and Sasuke followed, Chidori crackling in his hand.

But he wasn't aiming for his brother – he was aiming for the ceiling.

His Chidori hit the roof, blowing a large section of it to pieces. Itachi threw himself through the hole and into the open air, sending a fireball back at Sasuke as he followed.

Sasuke made it onto the roof before the fireball hit him, and he quickly tapped into the curse seal, letting his sprouting wing take the brunt of the blow.

As one, both Uchihas unleashed another spurt of fire. The flames mingled in front of them like clashing swords, and Sasuke felt a surge of triumph when he realised his flames were pushing Itachi's back.

But then Itachi unleashed Amaterasu.

-xxx-

Sakura felt a fierce grin pull at her facial muscles when she finally struggled into a semi-upright position. She'd needed to use the wall for support (she'd somehow managed to drag herself over to it while Sasuke and Itachi were having their duel of flames) but she was at least sitting up, in semi-control of her limbs and finally able to see what was going on.

Except the Uchihas seemed to have moved their battle to the rooftop. A definite advantage for her, as now she probably wouldn't have to worry about getting caught in the crossfire.

Sakura seized the tattered collar and ripped it from her neck, throwing it to the ground with a surge of primal satisfaction and more than a touch of spite. She actually had the childish urge to go over and stomp on it a few times.

Under normal circumstances, Sakura might have indulged that urge...but these were hardly normal circumstances, and she had bigger worries at the moment.

She pressed her hands against her torso, channeling chakra where she needed it, trying to purge the chemical from her body as swiftly as possible.

-xxx-

The black flames consumed Sasuke's fire, swallowing it whole like a predator devouring some small helpless animal.

But that technique wasn't without cost – the eye he had used to cast and target the Amaterasu was dribbling blood down his cheek.

Sasuke watched and waited, ready for the moment when Itachi would surely try to use the black flames again. And another Amaterasu, both techniques so close on the heels of the Tsukiyomi...well, Itachi would hardly be a threat after that.

And that was what Sasuke was counting on. The technique he needed to use to escape an Amaterasu would consume a large amount of chakra – he'd hardly be in a better state than Itachi.

The Mangekyou spun and black fire raced across the rooftop towards Sasuke. He turned and ran, because it would have seemed suspicious if he hadn't at least tried to evade, but the flames caught up to him, catching on his wing and moving quickly to smother his body.

Cloaked by the flames, it was easy to use a Chidori to split the roof beneath him, giving himself a bolt-hole. The substitution technique he used was one Orochimaru had taught to him, and was rather like a snake shedding its skin. He left what was essentially an empty body behind to be consumed by Amaterasu, while his true self emerged from the destroyed body, pulling himself through the hole and dropping to the floor inside the stone room once more.

"That was kinda gross," came a weak voice from behind him.

Sasuke turned, surprised to see Sakura propped against one wall. One hand was clutching her mutilated bra to her chest – prompting another thick surge of rage to rise in him – and the other was pressed to her abdomen, chakra glowing between her fingers. Her back was braced against the wall and she seemed rather unsteady on her feet, but her eyes were bright and clear.

Sasuke chose not to examine the feeling of relief that swamped him at the sight, and instead turned his attention back to the battle with his brother. He let the curse seal wash over his body, changing and warping it, providing him with new power as he sent a swift succession of fireballs into the roof, splitting the ceiling apart until half the chamber was exposed.

He made sure to make it the half that was nowhere near Sakura. She didn't look like she would be capable of running away from falling rubble anytime soon.

Sasuke grimaced as he felt the curse seal retract – he was practically out of chakra. But it didn't matter – everything was in place for his final attack.

Sakura stared at Sasuke, wondering what he was planning on doing. He looked like he was barely capable of standing – he couldn't have much chakra left...

She jumped when rain suddenly began to pour from the sky. Lightning washed everything in brilliant light for a moment, before thunder cracked right overhead.

Sasuke raised his hand, a small Chidori crackling through his fingers, too small to really do any damage...and Sakura realised what he was going to do.

He had used the fireballs to warm up the atmosphere and create a powerful rising current that would form thunderclouds within seconds.

This storm was Sasuke's creation. He was low on chakra, so instead of using his own energy, he was going to channel the energy of the lightning above. She'd heard of ninja who used the power of nature...but never anything like this.

If the attack hit...it would completely obliterate the building.

"Hey, if your attack kills me, I'm going to haunt you for the rest of your life," Sakura told him. "I mean it – rattling chains, creepy moaning...the whole deal."

Sasuke didn't brother replying – he raised his hand, judging the static in the air to be the amount he needed. Confident that Itachi was too weakened to try for another direct attack, he moved to Sakura.

He knew he couldn't leave her alone – this attack had a good chance of demolishing the entire building, and she was in no condition to get herself out of the way. He didn't know if she'd welcome being touched after what she'd just endured, but there was no other way.

He slipped the hand that wasn't charged with Chidori around her waist, pulling her in front of him. "Put your arms around my neck and hold on."

She did as he instructed, her movements slightly halting, as though she had to force herself to do so. Sasuke tried not to think about that and sprang onto the rooftop again – the highest point of the rooftop, more specifically – Sakura held tightly against him.

Sakura spluttered and coughed a little as rain suddenly began to stream into her face. She was feeling a little embarrassed at being pressed so closely to Sasuke while in her state of undress, but if he could ignore that fact that all she had on was a torn bra and a pair of crumpled panties, then so could she, dammit!

Sasuke raised his hand and the lightning in the clouds above crackled menacingly, the long forks and bolts warping, twisting...shaping themselves into a hideous creature with claws and fangs, made of what seemed to be solid electricity.

"Whoa," Sakura whispered.

Sasuke brought his hand down, leaping into the air as he did so and disconnecting both he and Sakura from the ground.

The lightning descended, aimed squarely for Itachi. It hit in an explosion of stone shards and humming electricity, and Sakura shut her eyes against the searing light and sudden wash of air pressure as the smell of ozone burnt into her nostrils.

When she opened her eyes again, she and Sasuke were standing in a sea of rubble. Itachi was lying on the ground, face-down and completely motionless.

_'Is he dead?'_ Sakura wondered.

Sasuke began to waver on his feet, and Sakura suddenly found that he was leaning on her more than she was leaning on him. Which was fine – her muscles were as strong as ever, they just weren't moving really fast.

The rain was petering out – she supposed a jutsu of the magnitude Sasuke had just used was only good for one shot. But it was a pretty formidable shot.

There was a soft cough and Sasuke suddenly tensed. Sakura gritted her teeth and tried to coax her neck muscles into movement once more, turning her head slightly around to see what had him so alarmed.

Itachi was slowly clambering to his feet. There was blood dribbling from his mouth, and he was obviously badly injured...but he was still getting up.

"Sakura, get out of here," Sasuke said in a low voice, his curse seal wrapping his body.

But this transformation seemed different somehow. He had the dark grey skin and the white hair...but one of his eyes looked strange. As though the shape was changing...and the shape it was taking on reminded Sakura eerily of Orochimaru.

"_Sakura, go!_"

"Going," she muttered, making her slow, painful way across the rubble. Her muscles were moving as though they had to thaw first.

She just needed to reach a relatively safe distance, and then she could heal herself, hopefully pulling the toxin from her body in one go.

She glanced back, blinking when she saw a ghostly, translucent outline of a ribcage...with Itachi within it.

"This is the last weapon in my arsenal," Itachi said grimly. "Susano."

Sasuke stared as the skeleton suddenly fleshed out, transparent muscles and tendons flowing over the ethereal bone, ghostly flesh following after it.

A sudden, sharp pain in his temple nearly sent Sasuke lurching to his knees. A chillingly familiar voice was whispering in the depths of his mind.

_I can give you what you want..._

Orochimaru. He had remained caged in Sasuke's body...but now, Sasuke knew he had no strength or chakra left to suppress the sannin, and he was fighting his way out.

"No!" he hissed. "No!"

_Admit it, Sasuke...you need me...you need my power..._

Sasuke suddenly lurched to his knees as his curse seal flared in pain, as though someone had poured acid onto it.

Sakura stared, horrified, as the flesh of Sasuke's shoulder bulged horribly. She could tell instantly that this wasn't linked to the curse seal transformation – this was something much worse.

The heads of eight gigantic white snakes erupted from Sasuke's shoulder. One head lunged for the strange, demonic-looking entity sheltering Itachi, but the creature swung its sword and severed the serpent's head from its body. It did the same to six of the other seven heads, and it was all Sakura could do to hobble away from the chaos as she mentally rejudged her approximate 'safe distance'.

The remaining snake convulsed, its throat working...and Orochimaru emerged from its mouth, screaming something about how he was free (Sakura couldn't quite catch it) before the sword of Itachi's demon impaled him.

Sakura knew better than to hope that had killed him...until she saw that the sword seemed to be absorbing Orochimaru. She heard the sannin choke out something about the sword of Totsuka...and then Sakura understood.

The sword of Totsuka was supposedly a spirit sword with no real physical form...but it carried sealing powers. Anyone it struck became trapped in a genjutsu, supposedly for all eternity.

With Orochimaru's demise, the remains of the snakes vanished, leaving Sasuke on his knees, panting and gasping. Obviously drained of chakra and with barely enough strength to stand upright as Itachi slowly approached him.

So Sakura decided to forget about the safe distance and clapped her hands against her side, trying for a quick purge.

A purge expelled most of the toxin the medic was targeting very quickly, forcing the cells to metabolise it where they could, and expel it where they couldn't. It wasn't pretty, and Sakura would have liked to avoid using it because of the drain it caused (on her body, on her chakra)...but it was fast.

Sakura's body began to scream as every cell protested the abuse she was putting them through. But Sakura wasn't afraid of pain – she held the jutsu for one moment, then two, before she released it, wiping at the sweat that had collected on her brow, pleased when there was no sluggish drag to the limb's movement.

Whatever had paralysed her was gone now.

She reached for her chakra...and felt it hum through her body, flooding her limbs with energy. Sakura clenched her fists, channeled her chakra, and started to make her way back to the Uchihas.

She saw Sasuke fling a kunai with two letter bombs attached towards Itachi, but they detonated against the ghostly creature who was protecting him, leaving him completely untouched. Sasuke flung more, with the same result.

It seemed explosives and jutsu were useless against the creature...so what about raw physical attacks?

Sasuke watched his bombs disintegrate into smoke and ash against the creature's shield while Itachi kept up his slow, halting progress...and felt the first flicker of real, genuine fear. Nothing he was doing was working – Itachi just kept coming.

He saw a flash of pink behind his brother, and then Sakura was flying towards Itachi, raising her fist, apparently aiming for his head...

The demonic creature smashed the shield it was carrying against her, driving her back against a large piece of rubble. Sakura's body struck the stone, and she tumbled to the ground like a broken doll.

For one sickening heartbeat, Sasuke thought she was dead. Then he saw her chest rise slowly as she coughed, blood dribbling from her lips and staining her teeth pink.

With an incoherent shout of rage, Sasuke drew his sword and charged at Itachi.

The sword rebounded, the force of the deflection slamming him into the ground. Though his body felt as though it was weakening by the moment, he struggled to his feet again.

-xxx-

Sakura gasped, coughing blood as her chest burned and spasmed. The blood in her mouth suggested one of her lungs had been punctured. She coughed again, more blood staining the ground in front of her, and went to work on her ribs. She needed to heal the bones to remove the one that had pierced her lung...and then she'd work on her lung.

At least now she had the chakra to do it.

-xxx-

Sasuke stared at Itachi, wondering what on earth he could do. His attacks didn't work – none of them could breach the barrier Itachi had placed around himself. What could he do?

Sasuke had thought himself equal to the task of killing Itachi...and now he found he was still far, far behind his brother.

He had abandoned Konoha – for what? He had trained himself nearly to death for almost three years...for what? He was completely powerless, he couldn't do a thing – his brother was going to win, he was going to take his eyes, and then...

_'I'll have Sakura...'_

Itachi had already raped her once – what would his brother do to her once he was dead?

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, quelling the urge to put some distance between him and his brother as he stood his ground grimly. If Itachi was going to try to take his eyes...then at some point, he would probably have to drop the shield. Or at least expose some part of his body to attack. And once the shield was set aside...Sasuke would strike.

And seal his own demise immediately afterwards, in all likelihood – he'd seen what that sword could do. Sasuke was under no illusions, not anymore. He'd gone into this fight thinking he might be able to kill Itachi and survive...but he knew better now. His brother was too strong; all he could do was figure out some way to take Itachi down with him.

He wasn't even sure he could kill him...but at the very least, he could give Sakura a chance to get away. He could tell she was already healing herself. He just needed keep Itachi occupied long enough to let her slip away...

And frankly, Sasuke didn't care what happened to him after that.

Itachi watched as new resolve erased the flickers of fear in Sasuke's eyes, replacing them with grim purpose.

And judging by the way Sasuke's dark eyes had skimmed to Sakura's crumpled form, Itachi had a good idea of what that resolve might be.

"What are you thinking of?" he whispered.

Sasuke blinked, bewildered.

"My death, obviously," Itachi continued, blood bubbling down his chin. "But why?"

Sasuke's eyes widened almost comically, and Itachi thought his point had been made. The last thing he was ever going to teach his brother...and perhaps the only true thing he had ever taught him.

A warrior was always stronger when he fought for another's well being and safety, rather than his own goals.

Sasuke was startled to realise that there was no thought of vengeance in his head – at this moment in time, he was facing down Itachi because it was the only way to protect Sakura.

Itachi reached towards Sasuke, fingers questing for his eyes, and Sasuke abandoned his tangled thoughts and stretched his own hands forward, reaching for Itachi's neck...

And Itachi's bloody fingers hit him in the forehead, poked him like he used to all those years ago.

"Sorry, Sasuke," he whispered. "This is the last time."

Then his body buckled, the demonic creature vanished...and Itachi hit the ground, eyes open and staring. The elder Uchiha was finally dead.

-xxx-

"_The value of love will always be stronger than the value of hate."  
_

_-Franklin D. Roosevelt _

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye for beta-ing this chapter! And as always, thanks to my anonymous reviewers!_


	17. Pursuit

**Chapter 17**

**Pursuit**

"_I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."_

_-Martin Luther King_

-xxx-

Sasuke was frozen, feeling his breath sting the back of his throat, unable to believe it was really over.

"Sasuke?"

Sakura's voice snapped him from his state of paralysed disbelief, and he came to himself to see her in front of him, looking battered but healthy. A strange feeling of lightheadedness was sweeping through him, as though he were about to faint.

"Take it easy."

A small hand closed around his bicep. He dimly realised that Sakura had reached out to him with her left hand, as her right was tucked into her side, holding her ripped bra to her body.

Through the fog surrounding him, Sasuke could still feel a wave of disgust and anguish at the sight. Numbly, he untucked his shirt from his pants and passed it over. It was bloody, tattered, and stiff with sweat...but the size discrepancy ensured it would fall to Sakura's mid-thigh, covering her.

Sakura donned it with a grateful smile. There was no way to secure it across the front, so she made a tiny tear in the fabric on one side, stuffed a small corner of the material on the other side through it and knotted it on the other side of the rip. She didn't think Sasuke would mind – the shirt was a write-off anyway.

She created a few makeshift buttons in that way before she glanced back at Sasuke again...to find him staring fixedly at Itachi's body, looking dangerously pale.

"Maybe you should sit down," she hazarded, reaching out for him again. "I can heal you – properly, this time-"

"He's dead, isn't he?" Sasuke said harshly, seizing her wrist in a grip that bordered on painful.

Sakura flicked her eyes to Itachi's corpse. "Yeah...he's dead."

Sasuke nodded slowly, then gave a rather frighteningly dark smirk. When the rain started falling again, it seemed almost symbolic.

"It's over," he whispered.

And that was all the warning Sakura had before his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell against her, unconscious. Sakura's arms came up as she automatically clutched at him, lowering him slowly to the ground, her movements hampered by the fact that the muscles in Sasuke's fingers appeared to have locked – his hand wasn't moving from around her wrist anytime soon.

Sakura glanced around – the black flames of Amaterasu had spread to completely encircle the pile of rubble they were in. Getting themselves out would be a problem – they'd probably have to use a teleportation jutsu.

Of course, it would be much better if Sasuke was conscious for that.

So Sakura called chakra to her hands and pressed her fingers against Sasuke's chest, slowly healing his many injuries.

-xxx-

The Konoha party skidded to a halt, staring at the man who seemed to have appeared out of thin air in front of them.

"Wow, I didn't think I'd find a bunch of Leafs out here!" he called. "And it's seven on one – that's not very fair!"

"I think that cloak means we can safely say he's an Akatsuki," Yamato commented.

"He's not on any Akatsuki lists I've seen," Kakashi mused.

"That's because I'm new!" the man practically chirped. "I'm Tobi – nice to meet you."

"Don't make any sudden moves," Kakashi warned the group. He was talking in an effort to keep the man's – Tobi's – attention on him...and not on the doppelganger Naruto had sent to attack him from behind as soon as Kakashi had sensed there was danger up ahead.

But Tobi seemed to sense the attack anyway, turning around just as the clone descended from the branches of the trees, Rasengan at the ready.

To everyone's surprise, the doppelganger passed straight through Tobi as though he was a ghost. The clone twisted in mid-air, rebounding off a tree trunk and producing a kunai as he flew at Tobi again.

The Akatsuki delivered a punishing kick to the doppelganger's face just as Naruto leapt up into the air after them. The copy collided with Naruto in mid-air before bursting into smoke, sending the blonde careening into a small pond.

"Naruto!" Hinata yelped.

But Naruto was only beneath the water for a moment before he exploded back onto land. Hinata's heart rate slowed when she realised he was unhurt.

"What kind of game should we play now, Leafs?" Tobi chuckled.

"We don't have time to screw around with you!" Naruto exploded.

Sasuke and Sakura were somewhere in front of him, and he was going to get to them no matter what!

-xxx-

Sakura sighed, leaning back from Sasuke's motionless form and flicking her rain-sodden hair from her eyes. She had done the best she could, but in the healing she had read Sasuke's chakra levels and they were pretty low – she wouldn't be surprised if he didn't regain consciousness for a while.

Which left the pressing question of how they were going to get away from the black flames that were even now closing in on them. The rain didn't seem to be having the slightest effect on them...but from what Sakura remembered people saying, Amaterasu couldn't be put out by a little water.

So what were they going to do? Sakura wasn't sure if she could pull off a successful teleportation jutsu for herself, let alone for Sasuke as well.

She shook the hand Sasuke still held in his death-grip, hoping perhaps his locked muscles had loosened while she healed him...but no such luck. His fingers were still clamped tightly around her wrist, in the kind of grasp she'd have to break his fingers to get out of.

Sakura sighed. She didn't really have the heart to cause him more pain – even if she could just heal him afterwards.

But weren't they being tracked by Konoha ninja even now? Surely Naruto (because Sakura was certain Naruto would be in the party) and the others would be close by now? And Hebi – surely they were somewhere nearby?

Well, it couldn't hurt to give them a hand.

So Sakura began to deliberately raise and lower her chakra, the ninja equivalent of an SOS.

-xxx-

Kakashi stared at the Akatsuki and considered what they could do. They'd tried to attack in formation, and their strikes had simply slipped through. Shino had sent his insects after him...and in the middle of their feeding, the man had just teleported himself away without making any signs or seals.

It was clear that they were facing someone who could use space-time jutsu of the highest caliber. So much so that he was able to displace individual parts of his body so any attack made on him would appear to pass straight through him.

The silver-haired ninja was struggling to map out a plan of attack when the branch Tobi was standing on began to warp, as what looked like an enormous Venus Fly Trap emerged...with someone's head within it.

_'Zetsu,'_ Kakashi realised. This man he _had_ seen in Akatsuki lists.

"It's all over," Zetsu said. "Sasuke won – Uchiha Itachi is dead."

Kakashi's mind seemed to freeze, tripping over those words. And the others seemed to be in the same frame of mind – their shock was almost palpable.

"Just like I predicted," Tobi nodded.

"Sasuke collapsed a few moments later, though," Zetsu went on. "And the Amaterasu is closing in. Sakura will probably do her best to get them both out, but after the sort of healings she's been forced to do..."

"Well, it looks like I'll have to play with you children some other time," Tobi said, half-turning back to them.

It was probably the angle – the Akatsuki's face moving into just the right place for light to shine through the single hole in his mask, illuminating the eye behind it. But for the first time, Kakashi realised that the man called Tobi had the Sharingan.

Who the hell was he?

"Bye, bye," Tobi waved, disappearing apparently into thin air as Zetsu slid back into the tree he had emerged from.

"We have to get to Sasuke and Sakura before they do!" Kakashi exclaimed, leaping to the top of a nearby tree to scout out the surrounding landscape.

He spotted some dark clouds hovering over a point several kilometers distant, and ordered Hinata to use her Byakugan to see what was happening.

"There's an area ten kilometers from here that's surrounded by a very powerful chakra. The forest is burning...and the flames are black."

"That's Amaterasu!" Kakashi said. "That's where they are!"

-xxx-

Sakura continued fluctuating her chakra, hoping someone was going to come and help them.

But then a chakra signature suddenly flared into life right behind her.

Sakura whipped around, her soaked hair scattering water droplets in a wide arc around her.

It was another Akatsuki – the one who had been partners with Deidara. Tobi, wasn't it?

She made to stand, but Sasuke's tenacious hold on her wrist arrested her, and so she had to settle for a half-crouching position. Perhaps he had come to take Itachi's body?

But when Tobi moved towards her and Sasuke, she knew he probably had something very different in mind. She waited until he was within striking distance...and then drove her fist into his stomach, putting enough force behind the blow to rupture every internal organ in her path.

Her fist swung through him as though he were a mirage.

"Wha-?"

Sakura jerked her head up to Tobi's face...and found herself staring into a Sharingan.

Her body went slack, the hypnosis hitting her like a heavy dose of chloroform. Sakura's last thought before she passed out was that if she'd known he had the Sharingan, she would have kept her eyes fixed on his feet.

-xxx-

"They've already gotten to Sasuke and Sakura!" Kiba called, scenting the air as the group ran through the forest, heading for where the Amaterasu flames burned.

Kakashi said nothing, concentrating on the fluctuating chakra signature in front of them. As they drew closer to Sasuke and Sakura, they'd detected a chakra in front of them that was rapidly rising and falling, the ninja method of drawing attention to oneself over large distances.

From Zetsu's words, he guessed it was Sakura doing it.

The flames of Amaterasu loomed in front of them, blocking their way, but Yamato acted quickly, his hands flying through seals before he slapped his palms on the ground. The earth rumbled, and the ground Amaterasu was raging on lifted and split apart, providing them with a narrow path through the flames.

"Go on without me!" Yamato instructed.

Kakashi nodded once, then sprang into the gap, the others hard on his heels. He searched for the chakra signature...and realised he couldn't find it.

Sakura was either unconscious...or...

They burst into a clearing, finding it strewn with rubble...and nothing else. There was no sign of Sasuke or Sakura.

"There's still a trace of their scent..." Kiba murmured. "But..."

"We're too late," Kakashi said bluntly, feeling bitter defeat sting in his throat.

He looked at Sai, blinking into the rain and looking dangerously close to morose. The artist was staring at the uncharacteristically silent Naruto, who Kakashi didn't dare glance at.

Hinata slowly, timidly, rested her hand on the blonde's shoulder. He didn't move, didn't acknowledge the gesture...but he didn't shrug her off, either.

-xxx-

Karin ground to a halt so quickly Juugo nearly ran her over.

"What's the hold up?" Suigetsu snarled. "You said Itachi's chakra signature winked out – that means the fight's over, right?"

"They're gone," Karin whispered, her eyes sliding closed as she mentally scanned the surrounding countryside.

"What do you mean?" Juugo asked worriedly, clutching Sakura's pack so tightly the material was beginning to crumple.

"Another chakra – big, too, and really powerful – came on the scene...and then they just disappeared!" Karin hissed, already straining her powers to their very limit as she struggled to track Sasuke's chakra.

Her eyes flew open and she spun around, facing towards the coast. "That way!"

Suigetsu and Juugo turned about and followed her without a second thought.

-xxx-

Sakura woke to find herself in a dark cave, lit only by a single candle. Someone had seen fit to lay her and Sasuke in a rough bed – it consisted of two blankets, one on the ground and one covering them, and a thick wad of material that was passing as a pillow.

She pushed herself up slowly, glancing around. The last thing she recalled was being knocked out...so it was probably safe to assume she and Sasuke were now captives of the man who had knocked her out.

The man who was an Uchiha too. Sakura was mildly impressed – this was her fourth consecutive kidnapping, and the third one that had been done by an Uchiha. She felt like she deserved some certificate or medal...she wasn't sure what, exactly, but she deserved _something!_

She couldn't see their abductor, but the candle's light only reached so far. For all she knew, he could be lurking in the shadows, watching her every move.

She gently shook Sasuke by the shoulders, trying to coax him into awareness. The hand he was clutching had gone numb from constricted circulation and frankly, it wouldn't be doing his muscles any good to be locked in one position for so long.

He stirred, opening his eyes and focusing on her face for a moment before he allowed his gaze to take in their surroundings.

"Where are we?" he asked dully.

"I don't know," Sakura admitted. "But...can you loosen your grip a bit?"

Sasuke blinked, apparently bewildered, and she jiggled her numb wrist for emphasis.

Sasuke looked down, and felt a flash of shame as he realised he was clutching Sakura's wrist. After what she'd just been through, the last thing she'd want was a man holding onto her. He relaxed his hand almost instantly, his fingers slipping off her wrist as his muscles twinged painfully.

But even in the dim light, Sakura's sharp eyes hadn't missed his grimace of pain.

"Give that here," she said, taking his hand and letting her healing energy alleviate the ache of strained muscles.

Sasuke shifted slowly into a sitting position, noting that he didn't feel the throb and burn that his injuries should provide. In fact, he felt remarkably healthy, given that he had just been involved in the most difficult battle of his life.

"You healed me."

It wasn't a question, but Sakura nodded anyway.

And then Sasuke noticed something else. "Your collar is gone."

He wondered why he hadn't realised it before. Probably because he had been more absorbed in her bruises than anything else.

Sasuke's eyes dropped to her legs, the edge of his shirt not falling far enough to conceal the livid fingermarks staining her inner thigh like perverse tattoos.

He grimaced and pulled his eyes away as his stomach performed a slow, torturous roll deep in his gut.

He tried not to think about it, focusing on Sakura's voice.

"Itachi cut it off, the collar released a toxin when it was cut that paralysed me – obviously Orochimaru's nasty idea – but I could heal that-" Sakura bit her lip against the urge to babble. But she felt the need to say something, to keep Sasuke's attention on her – there was a frighteningly empty look in his eyes, as though if she didn't keep him focused on the present he would just slip away.

"But, of course, those healings took a bit out of me," she admitted. "I'm pretty low on chakra, and I don't think you're much better."

"I'm not." It surprised Sakura that Sasuke would admit that.

Sasuke's eyes ran slowly over her body, his heart giving a sharp, painful twist when his eyes found the bloodied bitemark on her neck.

Sasuke swallowed in an effort to suppress the bile that was creeping into his throat at the sight.

"Are you...alright?" he asked hesitantly.

It didn't take a genius to know what he was referring to.

"I know what you're thinking," Sakura said softly. "And yes, I'm alright – Itachi didn't rape me."

Sasuke twitched, though whether at the mention of his brother or the act he was supposed to have committed even he couldn't say.

"But he-"

"I know," Sakura interrupted, not wanting Sasuke to dwell on what his brother had said. "I don't know why he made it look like he had...but he didn't."

Sasuke actually shuddered, feeling his chest expand as a wave of relief washed through him, almost painful in its intensity.

Before he even realised what he was doing, he had slipped his arms around Sakura's waist and pulled her to him. His head rested against the hollow of her throat, and his world consisted of nothing but pale, dirtied skin and slow, even breaths that he could feel stirring his hair. She smelled of blood, sweat and ash but she was warm and her pulse thumped reassuringly against the shell of his ear.

He didn't even know why he was doing this. Maybe because he wanted to test the truth of her claim, to see if she shied away from physical contact. Maybe because he had tried so hard to pretend her faux-rape hadn't affected him that his emotional control was now practically nonexistent. Maybe because he wanted to forget that even as some part of him gloried in his revenge another part wept for his brother.

Maybe because he just needed to feel her.

Sakura swallowed, trying to dissolve the lump in her throat, as she felt Sasuke's hands slide up her back to rest against her shoulder blades, pressing her against him. His breath was coming in great gulps, and he was still shuddering violently.

All this just because she'd told him she hadn't been raped?

But at the same time, Sakura knew it was more than that. It was the shock of Itachi's death setting in, the exhuastion from the fight, it was...everything.

"I'm okay..." she whispered. It was all she could offer him.

Sasuke kept his eyes closed, feeling the truth of her words soak into his bones.

She hadn't been raped – Itachi hadn't raped her. It occurred to him Sakura might be lying in an effort to soothe him, but he doubted it. There was truth written in every line of her face, her eyes remained free of haunting fears, and she'd accepted his rather sudden embrace without so much as a flinch.

So why had Itachi deliberately made it seem as though he'd...?

Sasuke clenched his eyes shut. He didn't want to dwell on why Itachi had made him believe Sakura had been raped, he just wanted to put it all behind him. To somehow forget about Itachi, forget about killing him...just erase his brother from his life.

"But, Sasuke, there's something you should know," Sakura went on. "We were grabbed by that Tobi guy – he knocked me out pretty quickly, so I didn't see much...but he has the Sharingan."

Sasuke stiffened, but as he was about to reply the Akatsuki in question suddenly stepped into the light, making both of them tense instinctively. Sakura was suddenly painfully aware of the fact that all she was wearing was Sasuke's shirt, held together by a few knots.

She really wanted some pants – it was hard to infuse yourself with confidence and courage when you were barely clothed.

"My apologies for knocking you out," he said to her, but Sakura detected no sincerity in his voice. "But I needed to bring Sasuke here."

"So why did you take me?" Sakura snapped.

"I did not want to have sever Sasuke's hand to separate you from him."

She supposed that was fair enough. But it still didn't explain why he'd wanted to bring Sasuke here in the first place. Unless Akatsuki were recruiting now that so many of their members were dead...

"So what do you want with me?" Sasuke asked, glad that Sakura was on his other side – he felt better about this situation knowing he was serving as something of a physical barrier between Sakura and the Akatsuki.

"I brought you here to tell you something very important, about Uchiha Itachi," Tobi said simply.

Sasuke clenched his jaw. Itachi was dead and gone – the murderer of his family and his last surviving kin – finally laid to rest. His vengeance had been accomplished, and he had no desire to focus on how truly hollow it had made him feel.

It seemed Kakashi, and indeed, Sakura, had been right – revenge was only ever a Pyhrric victory. All it left was ashes, despair, and emptiness.

Frankly, Sasuke didn't want to think about what he would have felt if he hadn't had Sakura with him to focus on.

"But first, let me introduce myself," the man said, slipping the mask from his face.

And Sasuke didn't know what had happened. He glimpsed a Sharingan eye, his own eye throbbed...and black flames suddenly erupted on the Akatsuki's shoulder.

He cried out and clutched at his aching socket, hearing Sakura exclaim in shock as the man staggered back into the shadows with inky flames consuming his body.

"What was that?" Sakura muttered, half to herself, as she tried to coax Sasuke's hand away from his eye. "Come on, Sasuke, don't be a baby – let me see..."

Her voice trailed off as she got her first good look at his eye. It was bleeding, as though some of the vessels had been ruptured...but it was the pattern of the Sharingan that caught her eye.

"Sasuke...you have the Mangekyou." At least, she assumed it was the Mangekyou – it certainly wasn't your usual Sharingan, that much was obvious.

Sasuke started, but anything he was going to say died in his throat when small fingers traced his aching socket, chakra flowing into it like cool, soothing water, erasing the pain as though it had never been. A hand that felt much more delicate than it actually was wiped the blood away, erasing the last trace of the hurt she'd healed, and even in his confusion Sasuke was certain the action had depths and undertones he didn't want to examine.

"I have...the Mangekyou?" he said at last, and Sakura could practically feel his puzzlement – it matched her own. "Then that-"

"That was the Amaterasu that Itachi implanted into you," came the Akatsuki's voice.

He stepped out from the shadows once more, without any sign, injury or blemish to indicate that he'd just been set on fire.

"Say that again?" Sakura said, feeling very confused. And more than a little uneasy at the idea that the man in front of them could bear an Amaterasu without any sort of ill-effects. "Itachi implanted something into Sasuke?"

"He equipped Sasuke with his own jutsu, perhaps as a last-ditch effort to kill me, perhaps to simply keep me away from Sasuke..." He shrugged, and though there was no indication in his tone or demeanour, Sakura felt that her presence was somehow an irritant to him. He was probably just pissed he'd had to bring her along.

"He seemed to have set things up so the sight of my Sharingan triggered the activation of Amaterasu," he mused.

"How...?" Sasuke's voice was so soft Sakura wondered if he was aware he'd spoken aloud.

"Itachi did something to you right before he died, correct?"

Sasuke stared dully at the Akatsuki in confusion...then remembered Itachi's fingers hitting his forehead.

"Somehow, he transferred all his eye techniques to you," Tobi continued.

"But why-?"

"To protect you."

Sakura remained silent, watching the exchange while her mind whirred, simultaneously weighing how likely it was that they could trust this man and grappling with all the possible implications of his words.

Sasuke shook his head, half-turning away from Tobi. Sakura's hand came to rest against his back, and almost involuntarily, Sasuke found himself leaning into her shoulder.

"I assure you, I am speaking the truth," the Akatsuki said. "After all, Sasuke, you asked him yourself about the person who helped him that night."

Sakura felt Sasuke's muscles tighten under her hand.

"It was me – Uchiha Madara."

Sakura had thought she couldn't be more surprised than when 'Tobi' had told them that Itachi had tried to protect Sasuke. But she was wrong – this information was plumbing all new depths of shock.

Madara...was really still alive? Just as Itachi had said?

"I know everything there is to know about Itachi," Madara said, his tone tinged with the slightest hint of smugness. "Of course, he died without realising just how much I knew."

"_Shut up!_" Sasuke suddenly exploded, jerking away from Sakura. But she kept her hand on his back, and he was grateful for its steadying presence.

"Itachi planted Amaterasu in your eye because he didn't want us to meet," Madara went on, ignoring Sasuke's outburst. "The only ones who knew the truth about Itachi were Danzo, the Third Hokage, and the two advisors, Homura and Koharu. With the Third dead, it is only those three council members who know the truth, and they will never speak of it to anyone. And that was how Itachi wished it."

_'Wasn't Danzo the one who was involved in Root?'_ Sakura mused.

But Madara wasn't finished. "But I know the truth, too, though I doubt Itachi realised that...but he was cautious. On the off-chance I might have some knowledge of it, he tried to use Amaterasu to ensure I wouldn't speak of it to you. As I said, he was trying to protect you."

"No..." Sasuke said numbly.

Sakura glanced at him worriedly. His body had been getting steadily tighter and tenser beneath her hand, as though he was a winding spring that was just about to snap. His breathing was approaching hyperventilation and Sakura shifted slightly, bringing herself closer to him. She recognised the signs of an impending panic attack when she saw one.

"No...no...he tried to kill me..." Sasuke was shaking his head violently. "He tried to kill me...he tried to take my eyes...he raped-"

_'But he didn't,'_ a cold voice in the back of his mind pointed out. _'Sakura said he didn't, remember?'_

But Itachi had wanted to kill him...hadn't he? He'd wanted to take his eyes...hadn't he?

A thousand memories of Itachi the monster clashed with a thousand memories of Itachi the brother, and Sasuke felt as though his mind was being torn in two by his confusion. He knew he was close to either a panic attack, or a destructive rage. He wasn't entirely sure which he would prefer.

Something boiled under his skin, like a snake, like a dragon. Something dark and scaled and fanged that screamed for violence, for vengeance.

Slender arms looped around his shoulders, and a warm body pressed itself against his side.

"Sasuke, stop!"

Sakura.

And as it had done before, as it had _always_ done, the dragon stilled at her touch, lying quiescent and compliant beneath soft green eyes.

Sakura could feel Sasuke begin to relax, and she fought the urge to smile in relief – it didn't seem to suit the situation somehow.

"He needs to breathe," Madara said impatiently, reaching out as though to push her back.

Sasuke knocked his hand away. "Touch her and I will kill you!"

The guttural snarl and grim promise in his voice raised the hairs on the back of Sakura's neck. Even Madara seemed to realise that pushing Sasuke on this issue would be unwise, because he withdrew his arm.

But Sasuke's moment of coherency seemed to have passed. He was clutching the blanket so tightly the tendons in his hands were standing out, and he was leaning against Sakura again. Not that she minded, but it showed how close Sasuke was to the edge that he was actively seeking some form of comfort.

Her hands came up, one wrapping around his shoulders as the other began to stroke through his hair slowly, comfortingly, and he pressed his forehead against her neck.

"He killed our Mum and Dad," Sasuke was muttering, sounding almost feverish. "Our entire clan...he killed..."

"It's true that he killed the Uchiha clan and left the village," Madara agreed, sounding completely unconcerned at the anguish his words were causing. "But he did it all orders from Konoha."

-xxx-

"_Revenge has no more quenching effect on emotions than salt water has on thirst."_

_-Walter Weckler_

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye, as always!_

_Also, from a lot of the reviews I've been receiving, I get the feeling some of you haven't read the latest manga chapters. Of course, if you've been reading this fic you've been hit with spoilers right and left, so I just thought I should say that the real story behind Itachi's actions is not my brainchild – it was in the manga, so I can't take the credit for it._


	18. Truth

**Chapter 18**

**Truth**

"_Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule."_

_-Buddha _

-xxx-

Sakura was now quite confident she was beyond shocked and in some emotional realm never charted by human beings. But at the same time, she knew whatever confusion she felt couldn't hold a candle to what Sasuke was feeling.

Itachi had killed the whole clan...on orders?

"There was a problem in Konoha...a problem that stretches back to the day it was founded," Madara narrated. "Itachi was used to 'correct' that problem."

"What proof do we have that you're telling the truth?" Sakura asked, unable to help herself from pointing out the obvious.

Though the mask prevented her from seeing Madara's expression, Sakura could practically feel a chill creep down her spine. Apparently he didn't like being interrupted.

Sasuke shifted minutely, muscles coiling, readying for action. Ready to fly at Madara if he made any move towards Sakura. He glared at the spiral surface of the Akatsuki's mask, trying to communicate that he had been completely serious when he threatened him earlier. He didn't care how exhausted he was or what information this man promised – if Madara harmed Sakura, he was a dead man.

The elder Uchiha seemed to realise this, because he resumed speaking without making any sort of move towards the medic.

"I have no proof," he admitted. "It's your decision to believe me or not. But just hear me out – that's all I ask."

Sakura didn't say a word . Sure, she was curious, but this decision was entirely in Sasuke's hands – she didn't have the right to make it for him. There was a moment of silence, then she felt Sasuke nod slowly against her.

"Alright, tell us."

His voice sounded firm, but Sakura couldn't help but notice that one of his arms had disengaged from the blanket to slip around her waist, holding onto her as a child might clutch a stuffed toy for comfort.

Whatever indifference he might pretend, she could tell Sasuke was honestly scared of what he was about to hear.

Sasuke knew that, under normal circumstances, he would probably be rather embarrassed by the way he was clinging to Sakura. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't be clinging to Sakura in the first place.

But these weren't normal circumstances. He felt as though he was teetering on the edge of some sort of mental cliff and when he fell...he didn't know what would happen. Holding Sakura like this made him feel calmer somehow, more in control of himself.

He listened to Madara tell them about the time when ninja organisations were just individual clans who acted as mercenaries. But there were two who were proclaimed as the strongest – the Uchiha and the Senju of the forest. Even among the Uchiha, Madara was considered to be unusually powerful – the fact that he had survived so long was living proof of that. He gained the Mangekyou Sharingan and then used his brother's eyes to make it permanent (as Itachi had said) and became the leader of the Uchiha clan.

And in a time when each clan's skill was given to the highest bidder, it was inevitable that he clashed with the leader of the Senju clan – Hashirama.

_'I know that name,'_ Sakura thought, consulting her formidable memory in an attempt to pin down where she'd heard it. _'Wasn't that the name of the First Hokage?'_

Madara claimed that the Uchiha and Senju were rival clans, each the only one who could match the other's skill. And as Madara clashed with Hashirama again and again, his name became more and more well-known.

"You took your brother's eyes for fame?" Sasuke's voice was deceptively calm.

"I wanted to protect the Uchiha clan," Madara clarified. "The more powerful we grew, the more enemies we acquired. My brother offered up his own eyes for the good of the clan."

Sasuke swallowed the urge to shout that the story sounded very convenient for Madara – why wasn't he the one to give his eyes to his brother? – and listened as the Uchiha continued the story. Getting into an argument would get them nowhere.

Apparently, the Senju asked for a truce with the Uchiha, and the Uchiha agreed. Their rivalry had pushed both clans to their very limit.

But Madara had opposed the truce, and while he claimed he had done so to honour what his brother had sacrificed himself for, and that he believed the Senju clan would eventually exterminate the Uchihas, Sakura couldn't help but think that Madara was just one of those people who fed off war and battle.

Soon after the alliance, the two clans made a pact with the leader of Fire Country, and for the first time, the system of one ninja village per Country was established. Without warring rival clans, the fighting lessened, and eventually, peace descended.

But there was a dispute over the position of Hokage. The village elected Hashirama and Madara, seeing that the Uchiha were losing their supremacy, chose to oppose him. But none supported him, saying he was motived by his own desire for power alone.

_'And I'm inclined to think they were right,'_ Sakura mused. _'His own clan wanted peace – shouldn't that have clued him in that they were happy as things were? A real leader does what's best for their people, they don't pander to their own ambitions!'_

So Madara had challenged Konoha and was defeated by Hashirama in the Valley of the End. Everyone assumed he had died there.

The Second Hokage formed the Konoha military police – run and populated by members of the Uchiha clan – supposedly to give them a position of trust and ensure none became discontent as Madara had.

"But it's real purpose was to distance the Uchiha from the governing of the village, and to keep its members under surveillance," Madara explained.

_'So you say...' _ Sakura had to bite her cheek to keep from saying it aloud.

The Senju retained their position as the supreme power in Konoha...and then the Kyuubi attacked.

"Only the Sharingan is capable of controlling the Kyuubi, so the council suspected an Uchiha was behind the attacks," Madara said. "In reality, it was just a freak occurrence."

_'And yet, Itachi said it was you,'_ Sakura mused. _'And I would not put it beyond you – you've all but admitted to being a power-hungry, war-mongering bastard!'_

But the council now suspected that the Uchiha clan had set their sights on controlling the village, or so Madara claimed. After the attack, the Uchiha were closely guarded by ANBU and segregated to one corner of the village.

"Their mistrust and suspicion birthed ill-will," Madara went on. "And eventually, suspicion became reality, and the Uchiha began plotting to take over the village. So the council planted a spy in the Uchiha clan...and that spy was Uchiha Itachi."

Sakura stiffened, and she felt Sasuke do the same.

"Though you were part of the Uchiha clan, you were too young to be involved in something of that magnitude," Madara shrugged. "So you were never told."

He told them that Sasuke's father had been the ringleader, and Itachi had entered ANBU on his father's orders, as a spy for the Uchiha clan. But he became a double agent, and instead spied on the Uchiha clan.

"Why?" Sasuke asked dully. He had the feeling he should be having more of a reaction to this, but he felt strangely divorced from all he was hearing, as though it wasn't quite real.

Sakura's hand brushed over his scalp again, and he closed his eyes.

Sakura listened as Madara told them that Itachi had seen the Third Ninja War when he was barely four years old, and seeing many of his family die at that young age had made him the kind of man who hated conflict. He cared about the stability of the village – about peace – more than he cared about his clan's ambitions.

And when he was given the mission of annihilating his entire clan, he made his choice. If the Uchiha clan had started a civil war, it would have torn Konoha apart...and the other countries certainly wouldn't have wasted such an opportunity. They would have struck, and it would have triggered a fourth war.

Millions would have died...all in the name of the Uchiha clan's self-interest.

So Itachi made his choice.

"At the time, I was bitter both towards the Senju, who had cast me out, and the Uchiha, who had refused to support me," Madara went on. "Itachi was the only who realised I was still alive, and he sought me out to make me an offer. In return for allowing me to get revenge on the Uchiha, he asked me not to harm the rest of the village. I agreed, and Itachi did his duty."

Sasuke seemed to flinch, and Sakura couldn't help but worry about his mental state. It couldn't be good for him to be hearing this so soon after he'd killed his brother.

But Madara wasn't finished. "Killing his clan, leaving the village...it was all part of his duty. And he fulfilled it, except for one mistake."

Sakura had a feeling she knew where this was going.

"He was unable to kill his little brother."

Sakura winced.

Madara told them that Itachi had pleaded with the Third Hokage to protect Sasuke from Danzo and the elders. Then he left the village, but not before threatening Danzo that if he laid a hand on Sasuke, Itachi would leak everything he knew about the village to enemy countries. He gave Sasuke revenge as his goal (and no matter how noble his cause had been, Sakura felt like smacking Itachi around the head for that) and he begged the Hokage not to tell Sasuke the truth, wanting him to believe that the Uchiha clan was a clan to be proud of.

Since the day he left the village, Itachi had planned to fight Sasuke...and then die by his hand.

Sakura wondered if death had come as something of a relief to Itachi.

"Lying..." Sasuke mumbled, sounding almost incoherent again. "You're lying...you have to be lying..."

He took a deep breath and straightened, peeling himself away from Sakura, though one arm stayed securely around her waist. Sakura chose not to mention that his grip was getting a little tight.

"I was almost killed, more than once," he said, his voice sounding markedly steadier.

"It was all part of his plan," Madara countered. "He had to drive you into a corner to free you from Orochimaru and the curse seal."

Sakura's eyes flew to the junction of Sasuke's shoulder and neck, and with a start she realised that Madara was right – the black marks on Sasuke's flesh had vanished, undoubtedly eliminated with Orochimaru's death.

"And with the death of someone close to you, your Mangekyou Sharingan would be awakened," he went on.

"You're lying!" Sasuke snapped. "Itachi said you unleashed the Kyuubi on the village."

"He lied," Madara said blandly. "I told you – he was afraid you'd find out the truth. He lied so you wouldn't trust me. Everything about that battle was scripted...after all, he didn't rape Sakura, did he?"

Sasuke froze, as did Sakura.

"Itachi made you believe he'd raped her, on the off-chance that you would be so furious at what he'd done to her you would simply kill him without bothering to ask your questions. He wanted to make you angry, and he probably decided she was his best choice."

Sasuke couldn't help but think that was certainly true. If Itachi had raped Karin, he would have been sickened, disgusted...

But it would never have come close to the anguish that had ripped through him when he thought his brother had forced himself on Sakura.

Sasuke shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "No! Itachi was evil! He was a criminal-"

"He joined Akatsuki in order to keep watch on the organisation from the inside. He knew he could never return to Konoha, but when the Third Hokage died he did so anyway. The Third Hokage had sworn to protect you, so his appearance was to warn Danzo and the elders that he was still alive, and there would be grave consequences if you were harmed."

"Liar!" Sasuke snarled, but it was weaker now. He was remembering Itachi's seemingly random comments on the nature of truth before they had truly joined battle.

They seemed disjointed and nonsensical at the time...but when set beside Madara's story, everything began to make a horrible sort of sense.

Sakura was remembering the same thing...but she couldn't help but wonder what Madara's motive was in telling them this.

"Itachi ensured that his death would give you a new power, and that in defeating him and avenging the Uchiha clan you could be hailed as a hero in Konoha. Everything he did...was only for your sake."

Sakura grimaced. Her head was spinning. Itachi had killed the clan, yes, but doing so had prevented a civil war. He'd joined the Akatsuki, yes, but he'd also done his best to save Sasuke's life. He loved Sasuke, but he'd practically made his life a living hell...

And if it was screwing with her mind to this extent, she could only imagine what it was doing to Sasuke.

At least, assuming Madara had told the truth. She was hesitant to believe something as unsubstantiated as this, but her gut told her his story was true – the part about Itachi, at least. She still didn't think Madara's motivations were really as good and noble as he'd made out.

"But I've said what I came to say...so now I'll show you the way out," Madara commented.

That only served to increase Sakura's suspicions. He just told them the story and now he was letting them go? She didn't buy it – he _had_ to have some ulterior motive; he didn't strike her as the type who did something like this just for the hell of it.

"Come on, Sasuke, we should get out of here," she murmured, tugging on Sasuke's shoulders so he stood with her.

He seemed calm and composed, but Sakura knew this wasn't the calm of someone at peace. This was the composure of someone who was minutes, maybe seconds away from a breakdown.

His arm was clamped so tightly around her waist she was certain it was bruising. She slowly, gently, peeled the limb away and draped it over her shoulder instead, where it clung just as tightly. She slid her own arm around his waist, to hold him up in case he collapsed.

Physically, he was reasonably healthy, of course, but mentally was quite another story. And Sakura had seen enough breakdowns to know that mental and emotional strain could be a thousand times more debilitating than physical exhaustion.

If Sasuke collapsed, she wanted to be ready for it.

Madara led them out into the sunlight, and Sakura was startled to realise they were on a beach. They must have been in one of those seaside caves shaped by the tide.

Madara watched Sasuke and Sakura emerge from the cave, clinging tightly to each other, and felt the first stirring of disquiet.

He had thought that, after telling Sasuke the truth about Itachi, it would be easy to persuade him to join the Akatsuki against Konoha. To be honest, he hadn't imagined much persuading taking place – he'd believed that Sasuke would simply take the initiative and begin his crusade against Konoha on his own. Yes, Sakura was from Konoha, but he hadn't thought she would be capable of dissuading him.

He had brought her along in an effort to determine her effect on Sasuke, though he hadn't anticipated her influence being very high. He had assumed Sasuke had taken her with him to use her medical skills, with perhaps a vague sense of nostalgia for his old teammates...

But the way Sasuke was holding her now, his reaction when he'd believed her threatened, their interaction in the cave; it was all telling Madara that he had severely underestimated this woman's importance to Sasuke.

Perhaps he should make a roundabout suggestion?

Sasuke blinked as his eyes adjusted to the sunlight, wondering what all this meant. What did he do now? He'd just learned that he hadn't slain a monster, he'd murdered a loving brother...

He felt his throat grow tight at the thought. There was no one now – he was alone, alone...

"Sasuke, that's a bit too tight," Sakura muttered from beside him.

Sasuke relaxed the tight grip his hand had taken on her shoulder, sucking in a breath when he realised that it wasn't true – he wasn't alone.

He wasn't alone, Sakura was with him. Still. Even though he'd set her free, even though she could have made a run for it during his battle with Itachi, even though she could have left him in the cave...

She was still with him.

"Sasuke." Madara's voice broke in on his thoughts, and Sasuke instantly resented it. He didn't need any more revelations dropped on him – he just wanted to be left alone.

Or rather, he wanted to be left alone with Sakura.

"Leave us!" The imperious tone of Sasuke's voice made Madara grind his teeth, but he knew a dead end when he saw one. If he pushed, Sasuke would have nothing of it. If he left the boy to stew...then maybe everything would turn out as it was meant to.

And if it didn't...Madara thought he knew who would be responsible. Sakura's presence wasn't merely an annoyance, her presence was a danger to his plans.

Madara mused on eliminating her right then and there, but then dismissed the impulse as far too hasty. Sasuke was too attached to her, too protective – if Sakura was killed, Madara would have to make sure it couldn't be linked to the Akatsuki in any way. Something told him that if Sasuke had even the merest suspicion that he was involved in her demise, the younger Uchiha would devote his life to destroying him.

So he teleported away, leaving the pair alone on the shore.

Sakura huffed a soft sigh of relief when the Akatsuki acquiesced to Sasuke's request (well, more like order) and left them alone. She didn't like the man.

For long moments, Sasuke didn't move, staring out at the waves. Sakura stayed silent, knowing he was trying to work everything out in his head, and didn't envy him the task. It was mind-boggling enough for her, she hated to think what it would be like for him.

"He loved me..." Sasuke said distantly. "He loved me...all along..."

Sakura could practically hear an emergency siren wailing in her head – complete mental meltdown imminent!

She turned, and was left stunned as she saw the tears trickling from Sasuke's eyes.

She had never seen Sasuke cry before. Ever.

His shoulders began to shake with sobs...and that was when Sakura lost it. She twisted in his grasp and clung onto him like a limpet, wrapping her arms around his chest and pulling herself to him, holding him as though she could somehow encompass all of his sorrow and make it better.

When she felt tears begin to sting her own eyes, she didn't fight them.

Sasuke couldn't remember the last time he'd cried. Even as he watched his tears fall to cling to Sakura's hair in tiny droplets of salt water, the fact that he was crying didn't seem real. He could feel the weight of sorrow on his chest like a physical pressure, crushing his heart and lungs and everything around, making his breath seem too sharp and his heart beat too hard.

It still didn't seem real.

He could feel Sakura's arms around him, holding him so tightly the side of her face was pressed against his bare chest as though it had been glued there. He could feel her hair banked against his skin, and the dampness of her own tears on his flesh. She was crying for him...why didn't that surprise him?

It still didn't seem real.

He could feel her ragged, uneven breaths puffing against his tear-damp skin, and felt it when she took a deep breath to speak. For a moment, he wondered what she'd say, if she'd try to mouth platitudes in an attempt to calm him down. What _could_ she say?

"I'm here," Sakura whispered. She wasn't about to say 'it's okay' or 'it'll be alright' – she didn't know if it would ever be okay or alright, and she knew it would do no good to lie to him.

"I'm here."

But she could say that.

"I'm here."

And Sasuke realised it was the truth. She was here with him. She was crying for him. For some reason he would never understand, she cared about him.

Sasuke moved. His arms reached down and closed around her, pressing her against him as though seeking to pull her straight through his skin.

Sakura squeaked softly when Sasuke clutched at her, with such desperate strength in his grip that he actually lifted her off the ground. She didn't protest – on the contrary, she just held him tighter. His face was pressed into her hair, and she could feel his tears wetting the top of her head and sliding down her own face until she didn't know which tears on her cheeks were hers and which were his.

Some part of Sasuke was still utterly bewildered by his actions. He'd never been a very physical sort of person – prolonged contact like this usually made him edgy, eager to end it...not desperate for more.

Sasuke wondered if the events he had just lived through had snapped something in him. But strangely, he didn't care if they had. He didn't care about anything except the burning sorrow in his chest and the woman in his arms.

"I'm here," she whispered again. "I'm here..."

"Thank you."

Sakura was unable to help herself from tensing at the memory of the last time he'd said those two words to her. One of her hands on his back curved until her fingertips were resting against his spine.

"You try to knock me out, I'll hit this nerve cluster and I swear you won't be walking for a week," she mumbled wetly, just to be cautious.

Sasuke was struck with the sudden, bizarre urge to laugh. He huffed an amused breath that sounded more like a sob.

Sakura giggled through her tears and Sasuke realised that the sorrow that had crushed his chest wasn't quite as sharp anymore. It was still there, but...lighter somehow.

He slowly lowered Sakura to the sand, not really knowing what had happened, but aware that their relationship had changed. Or perhaps changed was the wrong word – it had shifted, in the same way turning a gem in the light revealed different facets of it.

Something told him that this shift had been building for a long, long time. Had been happening for a long, long time, and he was only now aware of it.

She met his eyes, and he realised she could feel it too.

"So, uh..." Sakura wiped at her eyes, cleaning the last of the tears from her cheeks. "What now?"

Sasuke considered it. If he had killed Itachi, and never learned the truth, he might have been able to return to Konoha. But now that he knew what those council members had done...no, he couldn't go back. He had to honour Itachi's memory – he had to bring down the cause of his brother's unhappiness...

"I will destroy Konoha," he said softly.

Sakura's eyes widened, and she looked startled. But couldn't she see that it had to be done? The council was corrupt and evil – they had to be destroyed. He couldn't allow them to get away with what they'd done...

Sakura had heard the story herself, surely she understood?

Apparently not, because she was just staring at him as though she couldn't believe what had just come out of his mouth.

Sasuke sighed and turned away. "Come on – we need to get back to the others-"

"_YOU STUPID, SELFISH, ARROGANT, THICK-SKULLED __**PRICK**__!_"

Sasuke turned around just in time to see Sakura's fist flying towards his face.

-xxx-

"_It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell your friend his faults."_

_-Henry Ward Beecher_

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to the wonderful justcallmefaye for beta-ing this!_


	19. Full Circle

**Chapter 19**

**Full Circle**

"_Hatred paralyses life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it."_

_-Martin Luther King_

-xxx-

Sakura couldn't believe him – he was going to destroy Konoha? After Itachi had devoted his life to saving it? She could sympathize with the emotional shock Sasuke had just been dealt...but this, she would not condone – he needed to wake up to himself, and it looked like she was playing the role of alarm clock!

Sasuke darted out of the way of her fist, but Sakura was not deterred. She swung again, and this time hit a small rocky overhang when Sasuke dodged, smashing it to pieces and sending tiny stone shards flying through the air.

Sasuke blinked, trying to recover from the twin shocks of Sakura attacking him, and seeing an overhang of solid rock crumble like dry pasta when she punched it.

"I don't want to fight," he snapped.

"_I do!_" she yelled, her fist charging for his gut.

Sasuke countered, seizing her wrist and tossing her away. Sakura struck the ground...and disappeared in a burst of smoke.

Sasuke barely had time to realise she must have created a doppelganger in the chaotic rain of stone that had followed her destruction of the rock before he was whipping around, sensing a chakra signature behind him. Sakura's foot was so close to his face Sasuke didn't have time to mute the force he used – he just grabbed her ankle and twisted it violently.

A sickening crack echoed over the beach, and Sasuke was so shocked by the sight of bone protruding from Sakura's calf that the blow from the second doppelganger caught him completely by surprise. The breath was knocked from his body and he was sent flying – literally – backwards, to crash into the ocean beyond.

For a moment, Sasuke's world consisted of nothing but seawater and the throbbing in his lungs. He broke the surface, racing through the surf back to the beach, half-terrified that he'd done Sakura permanent damage...

Sakura was poised on one leg, her hands gripping her calf. Her face twisted in pain and determination, and then she jerked hard on the limb in her grip, snapping the bone back into place as bright chakra flowed across the broken skin. Barely a moment later, she put her leg back on the ground and it took her weight without a flinch.

And Sasuke was left staring. He didn't know much about medical jutsu, but he was certain the usual medic-nin wasn't able to repair a broken bone in the space of a few blinks. Even Kabuto had never been that fast...

Sakura grinned at the look of astonishment on Sasuke's face. Though she hated her strength still came as such a surprise to him – as though, even after all he'd learned about her and all they'd been through, he still expected her to be weak – she wasn't blind to how much of an advantage this gave her. Sasuke would be likely to underestimate her, and underestimating your opponent was a sure way to set a ninja on the road to defeat.

Her hands blurred through seals that Sasuke's Sharingan tried to memorise, though the Uchiha knew it would probably be useless – it wasn't enough to memorise the technique, he needed to be capable of performing the jutsu as well. And frankly, Sasuke could memorise Sakura's entire repertoire, but he didn't have the chakra control to pull off even one medical jutsu.

He darted out of the way as a chakra scalpel whizzed past his arm, twisting around with all of his inhuman speed in an effort to get behind her, perhaps knock her out...

But she had turned on her heel as though she had anticipated just this reaction, and Sasuke had to throw himself backwards to avoid a punch that would have cracked his skull.

This battle was proving difficult. He was still exhausted from his fight with Itachi...but Sakura had probably been equally drained by her healings, so that should have put them on equal footing...

But this was _Sakura_ he was fighting, and he was consciously downplaying his attacks in an effort not to hurt her. Though she didn't seem to have any qualms about injuring him – it was like she'd stored up every grievance she'd ever had and was now taking them out on him.

Sasuke was swiftly coming to the realisation he was going to have to make this a serious fight if he was to have any hope of keeping his head above the water.

Sakura withdrew for a moment, measuring the situation. Sasuke's katana was the only actual weapon in the battle – all his kunai and shuriken had been expended in his battle with Itachi, and she had never had weapons like that in the first place. He didn't seem inclined to draw it, but that could change over the course of their fight.

He was making a conscious effort to restrain his assault against her...but then again, so was she. If this had been a fight where she was trying to kill her opponent, she would have dredged up some much nastier attacks.

She was physically stronger than he was...but he was probably faster. And while she was skilled at genjutsu, his Sharingan would ensure he wouldn't be fooled by any illusion.

This was going to be difficult to pull off.

When Sakura hefted a boulder and flung it at him as though it weighed no more than a pebble, Sasuke only barely managed to conquer his surprise quickly enough to dodge.

Sakura had just lifted a piece of granite that probably weighed close to a ton, and she hadn't even broken a sweat in doing so. Sasuke tried to force himself to disregard his shock and concentrate on the fight.

He was low on chakra, so he had to be circumspect in his use of jutsu, but Sasuke thought this was a situation that warranted immediate action. As another boulder hurtled towards him, Sasuke didn't let it come – he leapt up to meet it.

Sakura saw Sasuke lunge for the boulder, and knew this was her moment. She leapt into the air behind her missile, ready and waiting. Sasuke's Chidori shattered the boulder and he flew through, expecting her to be in her usual position...but was suddenly confronted by Sakura right in front of him, her feet extended and at the perfect level to impact his chest.

He couldn't change direction in mid-air, and when Sakura's boots slammed into his chest he could practically hear his ribs creaking dangerously. He could tell he was about to go reeling backwards, and he grasped Sakura's ankle tightly, wanting to take her with him.

They hit the ground, but it wasn't a bad fall, and it was only when Sasuke saw Sakura's grin that he realised he'd miscalculated. He had seen that Sakura's physical strength far outstripped his own...and he had just invited her into a physical fight.

He began to form the seals necessary for a fire attack – that would certainly get her out of the way and restore a comfortable distance between them – but Sakura had seized hold of his arms. Sasuke automatically tried to direct his Chidori to crackle across his body, but Sakura wasn't seeking to grapple with him.

She had already let go, flinging him towards the ocean like a sack of wheat.

Sasuke twisted in mid-air, preparing to use chakra to walk on the water's surface as he drew his sword.

Sakura couldn't run up and press her advantage with hand to hand while Sasuke had his sword, so she settled for hurling another boulder at him. Sasuke shattered it with another Chidori, and came to rest on the water in a shower of tiny pieces of rock.

He wasn't surprised to find that Sakura was already running towards him, and Sasuke was preparing himself for a head-on charge when she swerved wildly away from him. At first, he didn't know what she had been playing at, until she dropped smoothly to her knees and snapped out her leg in a sweep, intending to knock him down.

Sasuke flipped backwards through the air, his hand closing on her shoulder as he tried to bring the hilt of his sword down on her head.

Sakura broke the chakra that was holding her on the surface of the ocean and promptly sank beneath the waves, practically disappearing from under Sasuke, slipping from his grip like an eel. Sasuke caught himself neatly on top of the water, his mind racing as he tried to determine what Sakura's next move would be. She was below him...so he would have to flush her out.

Sasuke charged up another Chidori, leaping into the air to break contact with the water to ensure he wouldn't get electrocuted as well...but his Chidori-charged sword had barely touched the ocean before he felt a chakra signature break the surface right in front of him.

Sasuke was the recipient of a stunning kick to the face, but his sword came around automatically, and he felt it bite into flesh.

Sakura bit back a curse as she felt the flesh of her hip part beneath Sasuke's blade, the electricity on it running through her system like a thousand knives. The paralysing electricity was so intense she couldn't right herself as she fell, and she dropped into the water once more.

But water was a conductor, and there was far too much ocean for the electricity to disperse over for the effects to linger as they would have if Sasuke had shocked her on land. Thinking fast, Sakura created two more doppelgangers, which exploded out of the water in front of Sasuke.

Sasuke knew he was facing doppelgangers – the real Sakura was still underwater. In fact, she seemed to be almost underneath him. Trying to divert whatever plan the medic was trying to bring to fruition, Sasuke plunged his katana into the ocean, trying to pierce Sakura. Not fatally, but enough to disable.

She flipped over in the water like an otter, seizing the blade with both hands, gripping it tightly as the two doppelgangers rushed in, both rearing back fists that hummed with chakra.

And Sasuke was left with the choice of either holding onto his sword and taking a blow that would likely cripple him, or dodging the strike and relinquishing his blade.

Sasuke released the katana and darted to the side, using his greater speed to allow the doppelgangers to rush past before he kicked out and watched as they dissolved into curls of smoke.

Sakura powered towards the surface, and Sasuke realised she'd made a dangerous miscalculation. The drag of the water slowed her down just enough for him to see what she was doing, and position himself accordingly. So when Sakura exploded from the sea into the air, he was standing behind her, ready and waiting to attack.

He caught hold of her hair and shoved her head forward, his fingers going for the back of her neck, for the blow that had served him so well in the past. He was already preparing himself to catch her before she sank beneath the waves, perhaps dodge a last-minute swing of the stolen blade...

So it came as a surprise when Sakura collapsed backwards against him, her back hitting him squarely in the chest, his aim thrown by her sudden movement. Sakura's hand reached back – her bare hand, unadorned with the sword or any form of weapon, and touched the shoulder of the hand that was tangled in her hair.

And something sliced into Sasuke's arm, something sharp and yet somehow insubstantial...and his arm went limp. He tried to move it, but everything below the shoulder seemed to be nothing but a deadweight.

Sasuke lunged backwards, scrambling to put distance between himself and Sakura. He didn't know what she'd done – he only knew he couldn't give her the chance to do it again.

Sakura whirled as he withdrew, swinging the katana in her hands towards him, trying to catch him with the flat of the blade and wind him. But he was too fast, even with his deadened arm, and he darted away.

For a moment, they both faced each other across the water, each taking the chance to catch their breath. Sakura knew she had the advantage – she had the sword, she had full use of her limbs...but she still couldn't discount Sasuke.

She'd used her chakra scalpel to sever the muscles in his arm – a true chakra scalpel. The ones she'd used on Itachi had been modified to slice through whatever organic substance they met – flesh, tendon, muscle or bone made no difference. She had used them to maul.

But she didn't want to do that to Sasuke. The usual chakra scalpels medics used cut through only the targeted tissue, leaving everything else intact. And she had struck to sever the muscles in his arm, leaving the limb completely unable to move.

She could tell by Sasuke's expression he had no idea what had just happened. Apparently, he'd never faced a medic wielding chakra scalpels before.

Sakura didn't want to give him time to think it over. She lunged forward again, exhaustion and chakra depletion riding so heavy on her back she was reduced to little more than basic taijutsu. She needed to preserve every speck of energy she could, so she could summon her chakra scalpels when she needed them.

Sasuke lunged backwards, his foot lashing out at her as he went. Sakura tried to grasp his ankle, but the sole of his foot slammed into her stomach, knocking the breath from her lungs and sending her reeling backwards.

The medic rolled when she struck the surface of the water, flipping herself upright just in time to catch Sasuke's attempt to kick her in the head. Obviously he wanted to subdue her and have her out of the fight before she could immobilise any more of his limbs.

But his exhaustion had slowed him down to the level she could react on, and Sakura's hand shot up and caught his leg, using her hold on him to wrench him closer to her as she threw his sword away to free her other hand. Her chakra scalpel skimmed across both his thighs as she spun him around like a rag doll, releasing him when she was sure he'd fly towards the shore.

After all, she'd just disabled both his legs – she didn't want him to be in danger of drowning.

Sasuke had felt the sharp, burning pain that felt like he was being cut but somehow didn't result in him bleeding skim across his legs, and he had known he was in trouble.

He hit the sand on his back, and had to make a conscious effort not to curse. His right arm was the only limb that was still responsive, but he had no opportunity to put it to any sort of use as Sakura was on top of him in the next instant, pressing his wrist to the ground, sitting on his hips and using her weight to hold him down...not that he was capable of much resistance now.

For a moment, Sasuke stared blankly into bright green eyes, unable to believe that he'd just lost. He'd lost...to Sakura? Sakura had beaten him?

_Sakura?_

"Now, Sasuke, you and I are going to have a serious talk," she said gravely. "And you are going to lay there and listen."

"What the hell did you do to me?" Sasuke snarled.

Sakura smiled, almost giddy. She still couldn't quite believe she'd won against Sasuke! Sure, he was probably severely drained and exhausted from his battle with Itachi (probably more so than her, even taking into account the healings she'd had to perform), but she still would have expected more of a fight than that!

He was tired and drained of chakra, true...but so was she. He had been trying not to hurt her...but she'd been doing the same with him.

In short, Sakura thought that Sasuke had lost simply because he'd underestimated her, and hadn't treated the situation as a serious fight until it was far too late. By the time he'd decided to play for real, her plan was already in motion.

From the beginning, she'd been planning to use her chakra scalpels to incapacitate him – it had been the only way she could think of to take Sasuke down without killing or crippling him.

Sakura had gambled it all on one plan...but hadn't really expected it to actually work.

_'That was almost embarrassingly easy,'_ she mused. _'That'll teach him to underestimate me!'_

She wanted to say it aloud, but wouldn't let herself – she and Sasuke would have a serious talk now, and she could always gloat about her victory later.

Sakura leaned back, making sure to keep up the pressure on Sasuke's still-mobile wrist, and said in a measured tone, "Sasuke, you are a blind, obnoxious, arrogant, thick-skulled, self-absorbed prick. And I'm about to tell you why."

"Get off me!" Sasuke snapped.

Sakura ignored him. She wouldn't have dared this three years ago, nor three months, and maybe not even three days ago. But she was daring it now, because she was finally – _finally_ – standing on solid ground with Sasuke.

She didn't know exactly what she meant to him (she still wasn't sure what to think of that kiss) but she knew she was important to him.

And she wasn't basing her conclusions on her own observations of him – she didn't trust herself enough not to put a hopeful spin on it. No, Sakura knew she was important to Sasuke because of one simple fact: Itachi had used her to hurt him.

And her pain could only hurt Sasuke if he cared for her.

So Sakura spoke her mind, secure in her standing with Sasuke for the first time in...ever. "I'm assuming this resolve to bring down Konoha stems from what Madara just told you. So, let's look at this reasonably, the way we would if we'd received this information during a real mission. And the first rule of any intelligence is to look at your source, so let's take a look at Madara, shall we?"

Sasuke twisted, trying to force her off him. But at the moment, all he could do was buck his hips and writhe his arm, which made absolutely no impression on Sakura.

"This is a man who gained leadership of the Uchiha clan by murdering his friend and gouging out his brother's eyes," she continued. "And we must remember, we only have his word that his brother consented to it, and frankly, I think his word is rather suspect. Anyway, the Uchiha accept the truce with Senju and he objects – why? The clan would have been wiped out if the war went on, so why object to a truce unless he's one of those psychopaths who aren't happy unless they have an excuse to kill someone? The Uchiha wanted peace, and they elected Hishirama as their leader – doesn't that suggest they were happy with the way things were? And when no one would support him, didn't that give him a clue that it was nothing more than his own ambitions that was driving him? He claimed to be thinking of the good of the Uchiha, but really, he was only thinking about the clan's fame, not the actual people."

"But he was right!" Sasuke hissed. "The Uchiha were segregated-"

"Shut up!" Sakura snarled, looking truly furious, and Sasuke had to squash a flicker of unease as a small voice in the back of his head reminded him that he was at the complete mercy of a woman who could fling boulders about like paper planes, so maybe he should just be quiet and let her have her say.

"The segregation only happened after he'd broken away from the village," she pointed out. "Weren't you listening? If he hadn't done anything – if he had thought of his clan before his own desires – then that probably wouldn't have happened. The Uchiha would have existed in the village quite peacefully and cooperatively. Sure, there was probably a better way for the council to handle that issue, but the point is Madara screwed up first!"

Sasuke wanted to counter that statement, but he realised he had nothing to say. Sakura was right – Madara himself had said that the Uchiha segregation only began after he had left the village.

"And then he agrees to help massacre the clan!" Sakura exclaimed. "Do you even see how crazy that is? He says he's all about the Uchiha clan and doing what's best for them and restoring their glory and all that crap and then he turns around and kills them? He admitted that he resented them for not supporting him! Whatever his motivations might have been, at this point he's clearly only out for himself!"

Sakura was becoming more animated now, waving her hands around with the force of her exclamations. Sasuke was struck by the impression that she wanted to slap him to punctuate each word, but was restraining herself.

"You might believe that part about Itachi – and I admit it explains a lot of things – but you have to consider why Madara told us. I guarantee it wasn't out of the goodness of his heart! Have you considered that perhaps he calculated for just this eventuality? He's admitted that he wants to bring down Konoha – has it ever occurred to you that maybe he wants you as a pawn in that plan?"

"You don't know that!" Sasuke spat, feeling the urge to deny the words that were starting to hit uncomfortably close to home.

Sakura gave him the kind of look she would give to a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. "...Are you ignoring the evidence, or are you seriously this stupid?"

Sasuke tried to conjure up a reply marginally more intelligent than 'I'm not stupid', but Sakura overrode him.

"Besides, from what I heard – and I was right beside you, remember – it's only the council members who were complicit in this, the rest of Konoha had nothing to do with it."

"But they reaped what the council sowed!" Sasuke spat. "They lived in peace and happiness at the expense of my family – they're just as guilty!"

Sakura slapped him. Sasuke's head snapped to the side with the force of the blow, his cheek throbbing. For a moment, he said nothing, stunned that Sakura had struck him. But outrage followed closely on the heels of shock, and he found his voice again.

"What was that for?" Sasuke snarled.

"That has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Sakura practically growled. It might be considered unfair to hit someone who couldn't fight back, but Sasuke deserved it! And if she hit him hard enough, maybe she could knock the stupid right out of his head. "By your way of thinking, you're guilty along with everyone else..."

And then epiphany slammed into her brain like a lightning bolt. "That's what you mean, isn't it? You feel guilty for hating Itachi for so long, so you're looking for a way to make everyone else guilty along with you."

Sakura couldn't deny she felt sympathetic – Sasuke's hate for Itachi had been the cornerstone of his existence, and to learn that he'd been wrong...well, she could see why he'd look for someone to blame, for someone to share the guilt.

She understood it...but that didn't mean she condoned it. Just the opposite – if Sasuke was having trouble dealing with this revelation, then that was his problem; she wouldn't allow him to drag Konoha into it, and she certainly wouldn't allow him to blame the village just to make himself feel better!

Sasuke opened his mouth to retaliate, but Sakura shoved her hand over it, silencing him. "Oh, no – you are contributing absolutely nothing intelligent to this, so you are going to shut up!"

Sakura could feel her breath stinging her throat, her heart pounding loudly in her chest. She was perhaps more furious in this moment in time than she'd ever been in her life. And she was going to make Sasuke see reason (for once in his life!) if it killed him!

So she leaned over, right in his face, and said things that were deliberately over the line. Meant to strike, meant to wound.

"Itachi did what he did to prevent war, to protect Konoha, and if you do this it will be like spitting on his grave."

Sasuke twitched, and honestly considered biting into the palm laid over his lips. But self-preservation reminded him that Sakura was very handy with a chakra scalpel and it was probably a good idea not to push her too far.

"Itachi wanted you to return a hero – he wanted you to go back to Konoha! Are you going to deny him his dying wish? After everything he did for you?"

Sasuke made an enraged sound, fury pulsing through his veins. How _dare_ she? How dare she talk about Itachi as if it was nothing?

How dare she mock his decision, his resolve, pick away at it with icy chips of logic until what had seemed right and true just seemed foolish?

"You don't even really want to destroy Konoha – you just want someone to blame! But acting like a spoiled child won't get you anywhere."

"_Child?_" the word was muffled against her hand but Sakura got the general idea of what he was saying.

"Yes, child, Sasuke," she hissed. "Anyone can place blame – a kid with chocolate around his mouth will point to the dog when his parents asked him who ate the chocolate. Why? Because he's scared of the consequences if he stands up and accepts the situation. It takes real guts to lay something to rest, to let it lie, but this...this desperate urge to blame and ruin...it's the easy path. And believe me, Sasuke, it makes you nothing more than a coward."

There was a hint of contempt in her voice, and Sasuke had the impression that she was trying for scorn, except that her eyes were soft.

"Besides, you'll have much better luck trying to bring down the council members from the inside rather than attacking Konoha at large," she pointed out, in a much calmer voice, feeling the need to add that last piece of logic.

She wasn't about to dissuade him from bringing down the Konoha elders; personally, she thought it was the right thing to do. She'd never really liked the council members – they had always seemed far too cold, far too bloodless for her peace of mind, and this...this was too much.

So then Sakura fell silent, letting Sasuke work it all out in his head. And she could tell he was thinking – she'd taken her hand away from his mouth and he had yet to say a thing.

She tried to remain relaxed, but tension was coiling in her muscles. She'd used every argument she could think of...what if he said no? In this moment, it wouldn't make much difference – in his current state, she doubted he could do much if she just slung him over her shoulder and ran back to Konoha.

But if he hadn't agreed to it – if he really didn't want to go home – then she didn't think much of their chances of keeping him in Konoha. He'd be out of the village as soon as he could move.

But if he wanted to come back...it wouldn't be easy, and it wouldn't be pretty...but it could work. Team 7 might stand a slim chance of being reformed.

She wanted Sasuke to agree.

Sasuke, for his part, was wondering why Sakura could make a course of action that sounded so rational in his head sound so stupid.

He had wanted to honour Itachi...but had his brother really intended for him to simply return to Konoha as though nothing was wrong?

_What are you thinking of...?_

Sasuke remembered the feeling of despair that had swept through him when Itachi advanced, seemingly invincible...and the resolve that had burned hot in his chest when he realised that he had to defend Sakura.

Had Naruto been right all along?

Sakura could practically feel him hesitating, could see him teetering on the cusp of a decision...

"Please?" she whispered, trying to make her expression as open and forgiving as possible.

Sasuke had to look away from her, feeling something in his chest twinge sharply at the hopeful look on her face, her green eyes large and dark.

"Fine," he said tersely.

And then he found Sakura leaning atop him, her arms tight about his neck. "Thank you."

For long moments, Sasuke was acutely aware of her cheek against his, her body against his own. Without conscious thought, his mobile arm slid around her, his fingers curling in her hair to press her closer.

But then she leaned back and slipped away from him, with a soft smile that made him feel uncomfortably warm.

"Now fix whatever the hell you did to me!" he barked.

He sounded curt and angry, but Sakura knew he meant what he said – he would be going back to Konoha. He just didn't want to admit he had been acting like an idiot.

Soft, lukewarm hope (with a touch of giddy triumph) flowered in her chest. Sasuke was going back to Konoha!

Sakura used a few healing jutsus to repair the muscles she had severed, restoring Sasuke's mobility once more before she clambered off him.

And none too soon. She'd been able to ignore her state of undress while they were fighting, mainly because she was a ninja and was well-used to focusing on a battle to the absolute exclusion of all else – she could probably fight stark naked if she needed to without a hint of disquiet (though she was quite glad she'd never had to put that to the test).

But that had been during their battle. When it ended, when she was raging at him, the filter of her perceptions had begun to drop, and Sakura had begun to find herself uncomfortably aware of the fact that she was straddling a bare-chested man with nothing covering her except a tattered shirt.

Sasuke rose slowly, testing his limbs, and in spite of the soft simmer of embarrassment in her gut, Sakura felt like grinning.

"I guess this means we're going home now..." Sakura said, just to hear the words out loud.

"Hn." But Sakura knew Sasuke was really saying 'yes'.

-xxx-

"_For of all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these: 'It might have been!' " _

_-John Whittier _

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye for being her brilliant, beta-y self. _

_She has also drawn a wonderful fanart for the last chapter – see my profile for the link._


	20. Reunion

**Chapter 20**

**Reunion**

_"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it."_

_-George Moore_

-xxx-

Some part of Sasuke still couldn't quite believe it. He had just agreed to go back to Konoha...with Sakura.

He was going back to Konoha. Back to Naruto and Kakashi and all the others.

He would be lying if he said it wasn't a daunting prospect. Would he even be allowed to return – without being executed? Sasuke knew the punishments for missing-nins were harsh and usually fatal...but then again, the usual brand of missing-nin were dragged back to their village in chains (if they were alive at all). It was likely his voluntary return would work in his favour.

And at the same time...some part of him _did_ want to return. He had always assumed that he had to either have his revenge or have his friends – they couldn't be dragged down the path with him. And he had owed it to his family. So he had done it – he cut his team from his mind and heart because he couldn't bear to remember what he'd thrown away...but he'd never thought he could have both.

Sakura had proven him wrong.

She was still smiling quietly, and the soft upturn of her mouth made him think of what it had felt like to have those lips against his own.

"_Hey!_"

Sakura turned, and Sasuke silently cursed Suigetsu.

The white-haired man was approaching them rapidly, with Karin and Juugo beside him.

He barely heard Karin explaining that she'd sensed their chakra flaring, he was more interested in the broad grin Sakura gave the two males.

"Hey, guys – miss me?"

Juugo gave an embarrassed smile, shyly handing over the pack he had carried. Suigetsu smirked and shrugged awkwardly.

"Aww, that's sweet," Sakura cooed, seeming to understand what they weren't saying perfectly well.

"You aren't hurt?" Juugo asked as she dug in her pack, searching for the dirty clothes she had stowed there.

"I'll survive," Sakura hedged.

For some reason, she could only find her pants – her shirt was nowhere to be found.

Too tired to really bother with the mystery of the missing shirt, Sakura simply pulled out the shorts and tugged them on, discreetly healing the small gash on her hip as she did so.

She'd been able to ignore it when she was yelling at Sasuke, and it hadn't hurt badly when it was inflicted, but she knew that if she ran with the gash unhealed and in such a position, she'd be likely to rip it open further. Sakura didn't have much chakra left, but she just wanted to stop the bleeding. It was probably lucky Sasuke's shirt was black – no one had noticed the slow seeping of blood.

She trickled healing energy to the gash until it scabbed over, not wanting to risk putting more chakra into it in case she collapsed on the way back to Konoha. But as she pulled her hand away, a painful twinge rippled through her body, every nerve ending shuddering.

It seemed the purge she'd performed earlier was catching up with her. It usually took a day or so before the aches, pains and general exhaustion that were the consequence of forcing the body's cells to process toxins took hold...but that was assuming the purge was all the body had to go through. With her healings, and her fight with Sasuke, Sakura had the feeling she'd pushed her body to the very limit.

Still, at least she only had to hang on for a few more hours...just until they got back to Konoha.

She couldn't stop smiling at that thought, though it dimmed a little at Juugo's next question.

"What happened to your clothes?"

Sasuke – picking up his sword from where Sakura had tossed it on the beach – grimaced. Even though he knew she hadn't been hurt, his stomach still clenched and his body felt cold when he remembered seeing her crumpled on the ground, her clothes in tatters...

Sakura sighed. "Long story."

"So..I take it Itachi's been dealt with," Suigetsu said bluntly as the Uchiha drew level with the group again.

Sasuke's eyes closed for a moment, probably the closest he'd come to a flinch, and Sakura winced on his behalf.

"What's wrong?" Karin asked, frowning. "Sasuke...what happened?"

"Later," he said tersely. "Can you still sense the Leaf ninja?"

"Yeah..." she said slowly. "Why?"

"We will move to intercept them," Sasuke said bluntly. "Lead the way."

Sakura couldn't hide her grin.

"What's going on?" Suigetsu asked. "You got a beef against them now?"

"I'm going back to Konoha," Sasuke said bluntly.

Sakura released a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. She could admit that some small, doubtful part of her had been worried that Sasuke would change his mind, that he only said what he'd said to placate her.

But to hear it out loud, to have him state his intentions to others...Sasuke had decided his course once and for all.

And while Sakura was borderline ecstatic to have him coming back, she wasn't completely ignorant as to how difficult such a road would be. Sasuke was a traitor, a missing-nin, and while he had never actively marched against Konoha, she knew his future in the Leaf village was far from certain.

She felt a prickle of guilt at having persuaded him to come back, but ruthlessly squashed it. They'd get through this – if nothing else, the elimination of Orochimaru and his voluntary return should win him a lot of points.

But the difficulties had apparently occurred to Karin as well. "You can't expect us to just walk into a village that declared you a traitor!"

"You don't have to come with us," Sasuke commented blandly.

The redhead spluttered.

"None of you have to come with us," the Uchiha continued.

At first, Sakura thought Sasuke was ordering the others away. But when she thought about it for a moment, she realised he offering them the chance to walk away, telling them they didn't have to follow him to Konoha.

"I want to go with you," Juugo said quietly.

Sakura smiled. She'd grown rather attached to Juugo (and reluctantly, to Suigetsu), and she hadn't liked the thought of parting company. "I bet Lady Tsunade will have some ideas on how to help you, Juugo – you just wait and see!"

Juugo smiled tentatively, almost bashfully.

Suigetsu was weighing his options. He didn't like the idea of wandering into a hidden village in the company of a traitor, but...was there anything else he wanted to do? Kisame would probably have another Akatsuki partner soon – tracking him down solo and trying to take them both on would be a sure trip to an early grave.

And frankly, traveling with Sasuke and Sakura was more fun than he'd had in years.

"You think your people might give me a crack at Kisame?" he asked, his eyes sliding to Sakura.

"If they like you...and if I'm very, very persuasive," Sakura grinned.

Because Konoha would be eager to take advantage of someone powerful enough to take down an Akatsuki. They'd probably treat him as a grunt – tell him nothing that could jeopardize the village, and simply send him to fight Kisame when an opportunity was made available.

But they'd let him fight Kisame. If Suigetsu won, they would have eliminated a large threat to Konoha. And if he lost, then they were no worse off.

And Sakura knew her word held a lot of sway with Tsunade. If she vouched for them, it was likely the Hokage would be lenient.

She could only hope that leniency would extend to Sasuke, too.

"Do as you like," Sasuke said shortly. "Karin, give us the direction the Leafs are traveling in, and then you can go."

"Forget it," the redhead mumbled. "You'd just get lost without me – I'll come too."

"What happened to not walking into Konoha with someone they considered a traitor?" Suigetsu smirked. "Rethinking your decision pretty fast, aren't you?"

"Shut up! My decisions are no concern of yours."

"They are when it means I have to spend more time with a bitch like you."

Sakura sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and squeezing her eyes shut as she mentally blocked them out. She didn't have the energy to deal with this now, and judging by the scowl on Sasuke's face, neither did he.

"Be quiet, the both of you!" he snapped. "Karin, lead the way."

In spite of the painful after-effects of the purge, Sakura could have laughed.

-xxx-

Kakashi reflected that it was really a remarkable transformation. The team that had set off from Konoha had been grim, but it was the solemness born of determination.

The team that returned...their silence came from loss and despair. They had given their all to find Sakura and Sasuke, and yet they were returning empty-handed.

Naruto kept glancing behind him, feeling as though their return to Konoha was somehow giving up. Was somehow saying that they weren't going to get either Sakura or Sasuke back. Ever.

Kiba suddenly jerked, snapping to a halt, his nose twitching like an eager hound's. "I've got something. Sasuke and Sakura, closing fast!"

Heads twisted towards him like marionettes, and the desperate hope in Naruto's eyes was almost painful.

"Can we be sure this isn't some diversionary tactic – like the one they used before?" Kakashi asked, treading on the side of caution even as excitement and apprehension rose within him.

-xxx-

Sakura was tiring fast. Her earlier purge was catching up with her, in a big way. Purges were a fast way of cleaning the body of unwanted substances, but they were rarely performed because they were so draining on the body. Tsunade had once compared it to drinking very heavily – you'd feel better initially, but a hangover was the inevitable consequence.

For a moment, she considered asking Sasuke to stop and rest – she was beginning to feel strangely lightheaded – but then the Konoha party came into chakra-sensing range.

It was like a shot of adrenaline. To feel so many and such familiar chakra signatures boosted her spirits in a way nothing else could.

-xxx-

Everyone had been tense since several chakras had flared off to the east. There was more than two, but Kakashi remembered the multitude of scents that his dogs had reported – perhaps the other chakra signatures were those of the team Sasuke seemed to have gathered.

He glanced briefly around at his own team, the tension palpable. Some were hopeful, some were merely wary.

"You can feel them, right?" Naruto yelled. "It's really them – they're really coming!"

"We have to be cautious," Yamato warned as the chakra signatures rushed towards them. Naruto seemed to be practically vibrating on the spot with his eagerness to run towards them. "We know nothing about their motives-"

"_NARUTO!_"

A pink-haired missile exploded from the trees and tackled Naruto into a fierce hug.

"_Sakura!_" the blonde yelped, reeling on his feet for a moment before clutching at her just as tightly.

The sudden relaxation – the silent, collective breath of relief that swept through the group – was palpable. Sakura was with them and safe.

Mission accomplished.

"I missed you so much," Sakura choked against Naruto's shirt, sniffling back tears.

"You don't look any uglier than before," Sai chimed in. "So I assume the traitor didn't hurt you too badly."

Only Sai could have made that a bland statement of fact rather than a worried question. But his words seemed to remind everyone that there were others besides Sakura with them now, and the team subtly shifted into defensive stances.

Though Kakashi wanted desperately to go to Sakura and ensure she was alright, the cold voice of logic asserted itself, saying that while Sakura's motives might be clear, those of her companions weren't.

He gave a short, measuring glance to Sasuke's team – a redheaded woman, a man with a disturbingly familiar sword, and a very large blonde man – before his gaze settled on the Uchiha.

This was the boy he had seen so much of himself in. This was the boy he had trained for the chunin exams, had taught the Chidori to.

This was the boy who had turned his back on them all for power and was willing to kill Naruto to achieve it.

Sasuke looked like he'd recently been in some sort of fight. He was certainly looking the worse for wear, and his shirt was missing. Come to think of it, he thought he'd seen an over-large dark shirt on Sakura...

"Hey Ugly, why are you wearing a shirt with the Uchiha fan on it?" Sai chimed in from behind them, hovering over Sakura and Naruto, obviously not sure what to do. His limited experience of social interaction probably didn't cover what he should do in emotional reunions like this, and he still didn't have enough practice in converting emotion and impulse to action to be sure of himself.

Fortunately, Sakura decided to compensate for him. A hand emerged from the tangle that was her and Naruto, found his collar, and yanked him into them.

"Is this the group hug I have heard about? Because I'm not sure I want to be hugging Dickless-"

"Sai, shut up," came the medic's order. "You're killing the moment."

Sakura thought she had never been happier before in her life. She was back with Naruto and Sai and Kakashi and all the others, and she'd gotten Sasuke to come back at the same time! She wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh like a maniac or weep with joy.

Kakashi wished he could be as happy as his students obviously were. He pulled a summoning scroll from his pocket and called up the manacles stored there – the heavy-duty chakra-drainers that were used to restrain missing-nin they wanted to bring in alive. Tsunade had known that their mission to retrieve Sakura would practically guarantee a run-in with Sasuke, and had equipped them as such.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Kakashi intoned. "You are under arrest."

Every muscle in his body was coiled, preparing for Sasuke's reaction.

"What?" the redhead shrieked. "You never said they were going to arrest you on the spot!"

Sakura peeled herself away from Naruto and Sai, watching the proceedings.

"What else were they going to do?" Suigetsu pointed out. "He's a traitor to their village, remember?"

"Not to be rude..." Kiba began. "But who the hell are you?"

"Oh, right," Sakura was still trying to tamp down her crazy grin. Even with the reminder that everything wasn't sunshine and roses, she still couldn't seem to stop smiling. "Everyone, this is Suigetsu, Juugo, and Karin," she said, gesturing to each respective member of Hebi.

"And this is Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Sai, Naruto, Yamato and Kakashi," Sakura continued, as though she were introducing the separate groups to each other at a party and Kakashi wasn't wrapping manacles around Sasuke's wrists even now.

Kakashi couldn't deny that he was surprised when Sasuke simply held out his hands to accept the shackles, offering no resistance as Kakashi fastened the metal cuffs about his wrists. He looked tired, in a way that seemed to go beyond the physical aspects of the word – there was an exhaustion in Sasuke's eyes that seemed to go soul-deep.

It made Kakashi wonder if the Uchiha had finally learned the truth of his words about revenge – all it ever brought was ashes and emptiness. It didn't stop the pain, didn't make it hurt any less.

Then suddenly two slim arms were winding around his chest and Sakura was pressing herself against his side.

"And I missed you too, Kakashi," she mumbled.

Kakashi usually wasn't the most touchy-feely of people, but he made an exception this time. He had forced himself to focus on Sasuke and the others, to focus on the potential danger rather than on Sakura's return, but now that he had some reassurance that they weren't about to be attacked, he could indulge himself.

He placed one arm over Sakura's shoulders and pressed her into tightly into his side, his uncovered eye roving over her frame in an effort to pick out and scrutinize every injury, to be absolutely sure she was unharmed...

She was bruised, that much was evident, but he could tell by the pale blue and purple colouring there were no aching, deep-tissue bruises among them. Fine capillaries had broken just beneath the surface of the skin, but no deeper, probably explaining why she hadn't bothered to heal them. The shirt she was wearing was far too big for her, reaching almost to her knees and looking dangerously close to slipping off one of her shoulders, and she had closed it at the front with knots of material. Her hair was stiff with salt, and there were a few grains of sand and streaks of dirt clinging to the folds of her clothes.

But she was alive, and she was home.

"Hey, if you're giving out free hugs, I want some of that action," Suigetsu drawled, grinning broadly.

"When I've been kidnapped and you've spent weeks worrying about my safety, then I'll gladly hug you, Suigetsu," Sakura tossed back.

"I was kinda worried for a few hours, does that count?"

Sakura laughed and slipped away from Kakashi. She was so clearly happy that Sasuke felt a pang of guilt that he had prevented her return to Konoha for so long.

He stared at her, making an effort not to look at anyone else. He didn't want to meet Kakashi and Naruto's eyes, didn't want to see the disappointment that would surely be there. He wanted to ignore the bitter ashes his life had become and focus on Sakura's smile for a little while longer.

He had been trying to concentrate on his revenge, trying to concentrate on his goal of taking down the council (and eventually, Madara as well), because his conversation with Sakura hadn't erased the black hole of despair that threatened to consume him whenever he thought of Itachi.

So he tuned out the babble of the people around him, and tried to forget the cold weight of the shackles around his wrist or the disturbing sense of being cut off from his chakra.

He wondered if this was what the collar had felt like to Sakura. If so, no wonder she was so pleased to have it off.

Sakura was being lost to sight as her friends crowded around her, but not so lost to his view that Sasuke didn't notice when she wobbled dangerously on her feet.

He'd been aware that something was wrong as they traveled, but he'd chalked it up to exhaustion – she'd had to heal herself, heal him, and fight with him in the span of a few hours. Now he found himself wondering if there was another cause. Had their battle resulted in a serious injury, one she didn't have enough chakra left to heal?

Of course, if she'd been injured that long, he thought he would have noticed before now. But then again, this was a woman who hadn't so much as yelped when he'd broken her leg. It might have been the shock of the injury momentarily numbing her...but it still said a lot about what Sakura could deal with.

Sakura felt her body tremble for a second time, her vision tunneling alarmingly, and decided that if she passed out she was going to be very upset. Fainting after meeting up with the rescue party was one of the biggest clichés out there...but of course, clichés formed because they had a basis in fact. Her mind was telling her she was safe, her adrenaline high was wearing off...and the purge was catching up with her.

"Are you alright?" Hinata asked as Sakura's eyes slid out of focus for a moment.

"I'm fine..." Sakura said, her statement more one of determination than an assessment of her condition. She was not going to faint, dammit! "I just need to sit down..."

Exclamations broke out around her as the medic's legs folded beneath her, sending her to the grass with an inelegant thump.

Sasuke saw Sakura slump to the ground, heard the loud exclamations of all around her, and his mind instantly leaped to the worst conclusion. He tried to go to her, but Kakashi and Yamato moved to intercept him.

For a moment, Sasuke was struck with the wild, desperate impulse to knock both men to the ground and out of his way. It was only when he registered that Sakura was sitting on the ground rather than sprawled on it that he managed to rein in the urge.

_'You're overreacting,'_ he told himself firmly. _'She's just exhausted, you're overreacting...'_

And it was then that he realised he hadn't been alone in his advance. Both Juugo and Suigetsu had tried to approach the Konoha party alongside of him when they'd seen Sakura's near-collapse.

Apparently, Kakashi and Yamato's interception hadn't been merely on his behalf.

"We're not going to hurt her!" Suigetsu snapped, looking mortally offended at the idea.

Juugo was simply staring over the heads of the Konoha ninja, looking nearly as distressed as he had when Sasuke had told him Itachi kidnapped her. "Is she alright? She's...not hurt?"

Kakashi exchanged a short, dubious glance with Yamato. He wasn't sure what he had expected, exactly, from Sasuke and the people his former student had gathered around him, but this open concern for Sakura's welfare had certainly come as a surprise. Sasuke had looked as though he were seriously considering smashing him into the ground to get to Sakura, and his male companions seemed honestly worried about her.

The woman Sakura had introduced as Karin seemed rather disinterested in the crowd around the medic, but she was obviously in the minority.

"I'm fine, _I'm fine!_" Sakura practically yelled, working to be heard over the worried babble around her.

Naruto had grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling over, and was babbling about how if she was hurt, he was going to kill 'that bastard', Kiba was loudly suggesting getting smelling salts, Shino and Hinata were thankfully rather quiet, but Sai was going on about how she should probably stand up because she was even uglier from this angle...

And it said a lot about homesick she had been that she didn't want to pound him into the ground for that. On the contrary, the hated nickname brought a warm sort of glow to her chest, a feeling that everything was as it should be now, because she was back where she belonged.

But of course, even now Sakura recognised that this would last for perhaps another hour or so before Sai started to get on her nerves again.

"_I'm fine!_" she tried again. "I just...I had to do a purge..."

Hinata grimaced. She knew enough about medical jutsu to realise how damaging a purge could be.

"Kakashi!" she called over her shoulder. "We n-need to stop here! Sakura had to d-do a p-purge!"

"What's that?" Naruto yelped.

Kiba pulled a face. "Sounds kinda messy..."

"Is that when people stick their fingers down their throats to throw up?" Sai inquired, his question holding no tone but polite curiosity.

_'Scratch that 'in a few hours' thing, Sai's annoying me now,'_ Sakura grumped. At times, she was sure that Sai knew better, now, but kept up his inane questions because it was the only way he knew to connect with people.

Surprisingly, it was Shino who corrected him. "No, it's a technique medics use to force bodies to process toxins or unwanted chemicals very rapidly, but it isn't used often because it has a delayed negative effect on the body."

"How do you know that?" Kiba asked, sounding very suspicious.

"I actually retain what Hinata tells me."

"When did she tell us that?"

"Stop your stupid arguing – Sakura's hurt!" Naruto yelled, and Sakura would have corrected him, saying that she wasn't 'hurt', exactly, if she hadn't been feeling so lightheaded.

Her vision was dissolving into coloured spots – apparently even sitting down hadn't alleviated her body's inclination to pass out. Sakura knew that fainting occurred as a result of the brain's lack of oxygen – the loss of conscious was the body's way of ensuring that all non-vital functions were shut down, and the subsequent collapse usually resulted in the body being made horizontal, ensuring oxygenated blood didn't have to work against gravity to reach the brain.

In short, Sakura knew that she should lie down to have any chance of holding onto consciousness, and she was about to tell Naruto to let go of her shoulders and allow her to do so...but she passed out before she could.

-xxx-

Madara watched the small group break into outcry as the pink-haired woman collapsed against her teammate. The group around her suddenly buzzed with noise like a shaken beehive, and Sasuke and his male companions made an abortive attempt to surge forward again, but Kakashi and Yamato made sure to keep them away from the unconscious woman.

The shackled Sasuke actually tried to shove past them, and had to be forced back to keep him away. It seemed that the party didn't trust him nearly enough to let him near Sakura now that she was safe with them, and Naruto – the only one who might have spoken for him – was too preoccupied with the collapsed Sakura for the moment.

Madara kept an iron hold on his chakra, ensuring it was carefully, religiously concealed from those below him. He didn't move – there would be no shaking branches or rattling leaves to give him away – but he couldn't hold in a soft breath of disgust at the obvious concern in Sasuke's eyes as he stared at the unconscious medic.

It was really rather pathetic.

Madara had left Sasuke and Sakura alone on the beach, out of earshot...but he had not gone beyond chakra-sensing range. He had felt their chakras flare in battle, then calm for long minutes. He had waited, expecting at any moment to feel the medic's wink out as Sasuke knocked her unconscious, or break off from her former teammate as she struck out on her own.

He hadn't expected them to be joined by Hebi's signatures, or for the entire group to set off on a line that would take them directly across the path of the Konoha party.

And it was then that Madara realised what had happened. The little medic must have convinced him to go back to Konoha and play nice.

Sakura had turned out to be even more of a problem than he'd anticipated. He had mused on eliminating her, but she had already convinced Sasuke to return, and were she to die, even in apparent accidental circumstances, Madara thought it likely Sasuke would still return to Konoha, if only to honour her memory.

So if he eliminated Sakura, he would have to kill Sasuke as well.

But Madara had found himself rather reluctant to kill Sasuke, as a breeder might if they had to put down a champion show dog they'd put much effort into training. Sasuke would be a great asset to the Akatsuki, and another Sharingan would have been immensely useful in controlling the Kyuubi.

It would be a pity to kill him – a waste.

Of course, if he couldn't be turned to the Akatsuki, Madara would have no qualms about his death. But he could still see other options, other ways of working his plans.

Sasuke had made it abundantly clear that his feelings for the pink-haired kunoichi ran deep. Madara knew it was likely he could force Sasuke to do his bidding by holding Sakura hostage, but that scenario didn't appeal to him any more than Sasuke's death. Unwilling pawns were always far more trouble than they were worth; they had to be constantly watched to make sure they did as they were instructed, and even then, they would undoubtedly attempt to foil whatever plans they had been embroiled in.

But there was another way. He knew that whoever killed Sakura would make a life-long enemy of Sasuke...so would the same hold true if it was Konoha?

Madara thought it would. Sakura had been missing from their village for some time – it would be easy to feed Konoha some false information about her activities, to invent her doing something that would be grounds for an execution.

Under normal circumstances, such information would result in a trial, an inquiry, a determination of the validity of those claims, but Madara planned to skip those steps. If that information also hinted that she knew something about the Uchiha massacre, he knew that the council members would press for immediate execution, in case she talked and they lost their standing in the village. And when Tsunade didn't agree...they'd probably arrange to have her quietly assassinated.

Nothing would ever be admitted to, of course, but he felt certain Sasuke would know what had happened. And Sasuke would make Konoha pay.

And even if he didn't, Madara would still have gotten rid of the person who had so thoroughly disrupted his plans in the first place. Death at the hands of the village she had been so loyal to would be a fitting revenge indeed.

-xxx-

"_Love is like war, easy to begin but hard to end."  
_

_-Anonymous_

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye, as always!_


	21. Misunderstandings

**Chapter 21**

**Misunderstandings**

_True love is like a ghost; everyone talks of it, few have seen it.  
_

_-La Rochefoucauld _

-xxx-

Kakashi fed a stick to the flickering campfire almost idly, watching the wood catch alight and listening to the crackles and snaps it produced.

They had set up camp where Sakura had fainted – mainly because she obviously wouldn't be able to travel any further, and it would be difficult to carry her back to Konoha – but also because Kakashi wanted to get a reading on Sasuke's companions before he let them anywhere near the village.

And a read on Sasuke.

Frankly, Kakashi didn't know what to make of the silent young man who had trailed Sakura into their midst. Sasuke had always been quiet, but it had never been so raw, so rife with pain and confusion.

But of course, this was Sasuke, so while Kakashi had noticed something was definitely wrong, and he was sure Naruto had too, he doubted anyone else had seen anything amiss.

He glanced towards the small group on the other side of the fire.

Sakura was curled in a sleeping roll, huddled beneath a blanket in the cooling night, still unconscious. Hinata had verified that she was in no immediate danger – her body just needed to recharge and replenish the electrolytes that had been consumed in the purge.

And it was on Hinata's orders that Sakura was being propped up, half-conscious, and given a glucose drink every hour.

Kakashi had expected her to stir during those sessions, but apparently now that Sakura was unconscious, her body had decided it was going to remain so for some time.

Sitting beside her was Naruto and, strangely, Sasuke. The Uchiha was still in chains – Kakashi's naturally cautious nature wouldn't allow him to dismiss that fact that this could be a ruse – but he had been permitted to approach the medic, though that was largely due to Naruto's intervention. After Sakura had been settled in a sleeping roll and the blonde had calmed somewhat, he had noticed the way that Sasuke was staring at the unconscious medic, seemingly oblivious to everything else – the chakra-draining shackles on his wrists, his protesting teammates, and the cloud of Shino's insects hovering above him, ready to pounce if he made a hostile move.

Naruto's exact words had been _'Let the bastard come over here – what's he going to do to her?'_

Kakashi had thought of several rather grim replies to that question, but beyond his ingrained wariness and his ninja instincts that screamed at him that the enemy should never be allowed anywhere near a fallen comrade...there was still a small kernel of warmth for his former student. In spite of everything he'd done (and all he _hadn't_ done), Kakashi wanted desperately to believe that Sasuke could be redeemed.

In some way, he envied Naruto's firm belief in Sasuke's rehabilitation – to the blonde, Sasuke's return had never really been in doubt, it was just a question of how and when. Naruto's firm, unending loyalty hadn't allowed him to even consider any other path.

But Kakashi had. More than once during this mission, he'd been forced to contemplate what he would do if Sasuke refused to let Sakura go, or if he tried to kill Naruto again.

Kakashi had spent much of the mission trying to prepare himself for the possibility that he might have to kill Sasuke. He had tried to beat all hope for Sasuke out of his mind, so that if it truly came down to it, he'd be willing to strike a fatal blow.

And now that he learned he didn't have to...the urge to give into that hope was far too tempting, far too blinding, to risk. He had to keep a clear, level head, and remind himself that Sasuke had willingly walked out on Konoha, had tried to kill Naruto, had held Sakura captive, and could very likely be playing them like fiddles for his own purposes.

But something told him the Uchiha wasn't. Something had happened – Kakashi didn't know what, yet – but _something_ had happened, something that had chipped away at the foundation of Sasuke's being.

He just hadn't figured out what yet.

As he watched, Sakura tossed in her sleep, rolling over in her makeshift bed and dislodging the blanket from her shoulders. Naruto reached out, but surprisingly it was Sasuke who had moved first, snagging the corner of the blanket with one hand (the other was holding his shackles to ensure the heavy chain didn't bump against the sleeping woman) and lifting it up to her neck again.

His fingers brushed over the bare skin of her throat, apparently accidentally, as he withdrew, which didn't go unnoticed. Kakashi couldn't recall ever having seen Sasuke being so gentle with someone before, and that touch...that hadn't been the actions of the aloof, distant boy he'd known. Sasuke had never been fond of affectionate physical contact, so why had he stroked Sakura's neck? The action had seemed almost involuntary – the gesture of a man who unconsciously wanted contact.

Naruto appeared just as shocked as Kakashi felt. He was openly staring at the Uchiha, even though he wasn't saying anything. It was rare for Naruto to keep his silence, but at the same time, Kakashi wasn't really surprised. Sasuke had returned, yes, but there was still tension between him and Naruto.

And there would probably be tension for a very long time. No matter that Naruto had always believed in Sasuke, had always fought for his return to Konoha...Sasuke had still tried to kill him on multiple occasions, and Kakashi knew that you didn't just forget that kind of betrayal.

Naruto might be trying his best, but the white-haired man knew it would be a while before he felt completely comfortable in Sasuke's presence again.

At that point, Kakashi realised he was overanalysing his students to an unhealthy degree. He had wanted to wait for Sakura's story, to hear Sakura's account of her experience with Sasuke before he took any action regarding the accusations, but it seemed she wouldn't be waking up for quite a while.

So Kakashi would do the next best thing – he'd interrogate the people Sasuke had brought with him. He wanted to have some idea of the person Sasuke was now before he got the Uchiha's side of the story.

So he rose from his position in front of the fire and made his way to the small huddle of prisoners, closely guarded by Kurenai's students, and gestured for Sai to join him.

-xxx-

Sasuke was only dimly aware of Kakashi leaving the small circle around the fire. It was almost time for Sakura's next glucose drink, and he was already working on propping her up so Naruto could trickle the liquid down her throat.

The shackles made it rather awkward, but Sasuke managed to lift Sakura into a half-sitting position against his chest while the blonde gently opened her lips to accept the cup he pressed between them. Sakura made a faint noise, but didn't react beyond that.

It made Sasuke wonder just how exhausted she'd been. He should have noticed – why didn't she say something?

But Sasuke remembered her obvious joy at reuniting with the others, and knew she would have walked barefoot over razors without a complaint if she was seeing her friends on the other side.

Naruto watched the last of the glucose drink slide into Sakura's mouth, watched her throat work as she swallowed automatically, and leaned back, taking the cup away and gently releasing her chin. Her head sagged bonelessly against Sasuke's chest, and the Uchiha lowered her back to her bed with another show of surprising gentleness.

Naruto watched his former teammate and resisted the urge to bite his lip. Sakura was back, _Sasuke_ was back, everything was as he'd always hoped it would be...so why did he feel so unsettled?

Maybe because, in all Naruto's imaginings, he had always seen himself as the one bringing Sasuke back, and this new scenario left him with the feeling that he'd somehow failed in his promise to Sakura. Maybe it was the idea that Sasuke had gathered a team – a team! – without them.

Or maybe it was because he could barely recognise his teammate in the man sitting beside him. Sasuke seemed so closed off, so defeated, that Naruto had to wonder what had happened.

But then something made him look towards Kakashi, only to find that his former teacher and Sai had taken the one Sakura had introduced as Suigetsu aside, apparently for interrogation.

Naruto wondered what they were interrogating him about. Sensing Naruto's gaze, Kakashi glanced towards him and gestured for him to join them.

Suigetsu watched the blonde approach and leaned back against a tree, staring wistfully at his sword, which was propped up carefully by the fire and well out of his reach. He wanted it back. He knew Konoha had a reputation for being soft, but it was still unsettling to be cut out of the group by a small contingent.

He knew that he was probably going to be interrogated. He wasn't surprised at that, but he _was_ surprised that he was being interrogated so quickly. He would have thought they'd at least make an attempt at working Sasuke over first.

"So...what do you want to know?" he asked, trying to get it over and done with. It wasn't like he was holding any information he wanted to keep secret. Sound was gone, and he owed the Akatsuki no loyalty.

His plan was to make nice, show them how much of an asset he could be...and maybe they'd give him a shot at Kisame. He'd heard Konoha was after the Akatsuki, after all.

Kakashi told himself he was interrogating Suigetsu first because he wanted to get a feel for Sasuke's treatment of Sakura, and these strangers would be less likely to lie to him. They gained little benefit from making Sasuke out to be either better or worse than he appeared.

And if he kept telling himself that, he might be able to ignore the real reason – he was trying to avoid talking with Sasuke.

He started the interrogation with a small question, trying to gauge how cooperative Suigetsu was going to be.

"How long were you traveling with Sasuke?"

Seeing as Sakura had already told them his name, this seemed like the logical choice.

Suigetsu shrugged. "Maybe a week or so, give or take a day. Not too long."

Kakashi made a mental note of that – he hadn't been with Sasuke for the duration of Sakura's disappearance. The shinobi seemed cooperative, and though he knew it wasn't advisable to trust your instincts about someone in this situation, he needed to get an answer as to Sakura's treatment...even if that answer was a lie.

"Firstly...did you hurt Sakura?"

Suigetsu knew it probably wasn't appropriate for the gravity of the situation, but he couldn't help it – he burst into laughter.

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed dangerously, obviously wondering how this situation was funny.

"Do you honestly think I'd be sitting here, alive and talking to you, if I'd hurt her?" Suigetsu asked. "Hell, no – Sasuke would have scattered my body parts across three different countries by now!"

Naruto was grinning. "I knew the bastard wasn't going to hurt her – I knew it!"

Kakashi opened his mouth to warn him against being hasty, but Suigetsu spoke first.

"You guys are interrogating me to find out if Sasuke hurt Princess?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow – the man was perceptive, he'd give him that.

"Princess?" Naruto echoed.

"Another nickname?" Sai asked, sounding nothing but innocently curious.

"Fits her a lot better than yours," Naruto muttered.

"Did he?" Kakashi asked, ignoring the two boys. "Hurt her? Our intelligence tells us that she was handed to Sasuke for a very specific purpose..."

"You're asking me if they had sex," Suigetsu said bluntly.

Steely silence on the part of the older ninja, awkward shuffling from Naruto, and an unsettlingly blank yet calculating gaze from Sai.

"They haven't," he assured them. "Unfortunately. Certainly would have cut down on some of the tension, and it probably would have done Sasuke a world of good."

Suigetsu could sympathize with the shocked faces around him – if an adolescent Sasuke had been anything like he was now, they were probably astounded at the idea that there would have been sexual tension anywhere near his vicinity.

So, being Suigetsu, he couldn't resist the urge to stir the pot a little more.

"Yeah, I was right there with you," he nodded at their stunned expressions. "He always had women hanging all over him in Sound – Karin, for example – but he never paid them any attention. Princess is the only one I've ever seen get under his skin."

He laughed – a short, self-deprecating laugh. "And all this time I thought he was either gay or had some sort of hormonal imbalance that resulted in a complete lack of a sex drive. But it turns out, he just has particular tastes. Real particular."

The expressions on his interrogators' faces were still rather skeptical, so Suigetsu decided to be honest. Because the sooner they realised none of the members of Team Hebi had harmed Sakura, the sooner he was out of the stupid chains.

"Look, I'm not going to say he treated her like a princess, because he didn't. He refused to let her go no matter how often she asked him, he had a habit of grabbing her arm and dragging her wherever he wanted to go, said some things to her that can only be classed as cruel...but he never hurt her, and he never allowed her to get hurt. It wasn't coincidence that after his battle with Deidara, Sasuke was beaten six ways to Sunday and Princess was only dusty and a little tired. And while I've seen him almost kill men who insult his family, Princess would scream curses down his ancestors for minutes at a time, and he never once hit her. He never even _threatened_ to hit her."

Suigetsu grinned, and delivered his first solid impression of Sasuke and Sakura with more than a hint of smugness. "I piss him off, he wraps me with a snake and threatens to kill me. She pisses him off, and at most, she'll get a glare. If I tried to attack him, he'd grind me into the floor. She tries to attack him, all he does is tell her not to do it again. I'm not saying he's the nicest guy in the world, but if you're looking for the one who knocked Princess around, I guarantee you're looking at the wrong guy."

-xxx-

An hour later, and Kakashi had no idea what to think. Reports on Sasuke said one thing, the interrogations of his teammates said another.

"Sasuke wouldn't have hurt Sakura," had been Juugo's quiet reply to his questions. "He loves her."

Understandably flabbergasted and trying not to show it, Kakashi had asked him what he based that assumption on.

"You could see it when he looked at her, sometimes. It was like he wanted to smile, but was afraid to, in case something happened and took away his reason for smiling."

Karin had done her best to downplay the medic's importance to Sasuke, but even she had admitted Sasuke had never hurt Sakura.

However, Kakashi couldn't discount the possibilities that they were either making Sasuke out to be better than he was in an effort to appear better by association, or that Sasuke was deceiving his teammates about his true nature and intentions.

After all, none of them had been able to explain what had happened to cause Sakura's bruises, or why she was dressed in Sasuke's shirt. Hinata had also taken him aside and mentioned that, when she'd lain Sakura on the sleeping roll, the shirt had shifted and enabled her to catch a glimpse of what was clearly a bitemark, and Kakashi wanted an explanation for that as soon as possible. Bruises could be explained by a simple battle...but a bitemark? Either Sakura had grappled with her hypothetical opponent in very close quarters, or...

Kakashi was endeavouring not to think past that 'or'.

Naruto, for his part, hadn't been happier in weeks. He saw this as final, definitive proof of Sasuke's reform.

Now it was just a matter of time before Kakashi came around. He could tell by his former teacher's air that he wasn't ready to let go of his suspicion of Sasuke, and Sai...well, no one ever really knew what Sai was thinking.

But Naruto knew he had been right, and couldn't stamp out the cocky swagger in his steps as he walked back to the fire.

-xxx-

"What do you guys make of this?" Kiba asked in a low voice.

"S-Sasuke seems willing t-to return with us," Hinata said quietly. "Maybe he's r-realised he was wrong?"

"Yeah...but why now, of all times? Itachi's dead, and suddenly it's all 'hey, I'm gonna go back to Konoha'? So, what, he was always going to come back but decided to go to Orochimaru for the hell of it?"

"I think something happened," Shino commented. "Either during the battle with Itachi or afterwards, but something happened to make Sasuke decide to come back."

He glanced towards the dark-haired man at the fire, sitting vigil over the unconscious Sakura. "And I think Sakura may have had a lot of influence on his decision."

"But on the other hand, he could be acting docile in an attempt to lull us into a false sense of security," Yamato pointed out.

"B-But why?"

"At one point in time, he demonstrated a desire to kill Naruto," the older ninja said bluntly. "What better way than to get under his guard, then strike when he isn't prepared?"

Kiba and Hinata both looked startled, as though they hadn't really believed Sasuke would contemplate something so heinous, and while Shino's high collar and dark glasses hid his expression, Yamato thought it would have been a muted version of his teammates'.

It didn't really surprise him. In spite of their obvious suspicion, they had known and trusted Sasuke at one point, which meant they naturally wanted to believe the best of him.

He, however, had never known the Uchiha, except as an enemy, and he was not about to dismiss or ignore the possibility that this supposed 'return' could have very dark ulterior motives. Part of being a ninja was trying to think like your enemy, anticipating every possible plan.

But at the same time, he knew he would like to think that Sasuke had truly returned, if only for Sakura and Naruto's sake. At first, he had thought them nothing but nuisances, being with them an essential baby-sitting job, but he had found himself gradually becoming attached to them. Reluctantly fascinated by the way they accepted and adopted both he and Sai simply because they were part of Team 7.

And intrigued by the deep bonds of loyalty that tied both to each other so tightly. At first, Yamato had assumed Naruto and Sakura were in love, but over time he had realised they shared a deep friendship that was very easy to mistake for love, simply because few platonic bonds with the opposite gender became that strong.

Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi were bound in a team circle that was extraordinarily tight-knit, even among Konoha. A circle that they had expanded to include he and Sai without question. So it was for their sakes that Yamato found himself hoping that Sasuke was sincere.

And yet...some part of him couldn't help feeling that this scenario was a little _too_ neat and easy.

-xxx-

Sakura opened her eyes, at first bewildered to find herself horizontal...until she realised she must have fainted.

The idea irritated her, and when she noticed the darkness enshrouding her and the campfire a short distance away, her irritation only deepened – she must have been out for a few hours, at least.

She smothered a yawn with her hand, started to roll over...

"Sakura!"

And nearly jumped out of her skin as someone bellowed her name right next to her ear and swept her into a hug.

While Sakura was touched by his affection, Naruto's aim was off – instead of flinging his arms around her shoulders, he'd caught her neck, and was currently throttling her.

"Na-ruto..." she wheezed painfully.

"You're choking her, idiot," came Sasuke's scathing comment.

"Oh, sorry."

Coughing a little to ease the sting in her lungs, Sakura still managed a grin. In retaliation, she looped her arms around Naruto's chest and squeezed hard enough to make ribs creak.

Sasuke watched them – Naruto smiling like a lunatic even as he pleaded with Sakura to let up, Sakura's grin partially hidden in the blonde's jacket, her shoulders shaking with laughter – and felt a swift stab of envy. Some part of him couldn't help but wonder how close Naruto and Sakura had become over the years...

And then Sakura's arm reached out and hauled him into the hug in the same manner she'd dragged Sai into the earlier one.

Naruto was surprised when Sasuke not only didn't shrug her arm off, but made no move to break the embrace. He allowed Sakura to settle his chin on her shoulder and, unless Naruto was mistaken, he actually leaned his cheek against her hair.

And Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that everything was finally alright. In spite of everything that was to come – Sasuke's trial, whatever punishment he was going to get for being a missing-nin – that this was how it was meant to be. The three of them, together again.

"Hey, she's awake!" came Kiba's shout.

Sakura moved back from Sasuke and Naruto as heads turned towards her. Hinata hurried over to check on her patient, as Yamato, Kakashi and Sai approached at a slightly more sedate pace. Kiba started to move towards the group, but Shino tapped him sharply in the back and reminded him that they had to guard the prisoners.

"You think she's okay?" Suigetsu asked the others, staring at the small knot of people around the fire.

"She'll be fine," Karin grumbled. "It was just a purge – I don't get why everyone's making such a fuss about it..."

Suigetsu smirked. Watching Sasuke root himself firmly to Sakura's side meant the white-haired man had a good idea where Karin's quiet bitterness was coming from.

So, of course, he couldn't resist the impulse to rub it in her face a little more. "Told you he had a thing for her."

Karin shot him an ugly glare, but didn't actually say anything.

Suigetsu wondered if she was slowly coming to the realisation that had struck him within his first hour of meeting Sakura – that Sasuke was well and truly taken.

Then Suigetsu realised Juugo was being unnervingly quiet, and cast a swift glance at him. If he'd learned anything about Juugo, it was that the large man was closest to a rampage when he was eerily silent.

But Juugo didn't have that aura of psychosis he usually seemed to project before he snapped. Instead, he was gazing at the gathering of Sakura's friends with a sort of despairing longing. As though it was something he'd always wanted, but had long since given up hope of having.

It was when Suigetsu started feeling a little sorry for the guy that he realised Princess' whole 'soft touch' thing was contagious and tried to stop thinking.

-xxx-

Kakashi let his team fuss and worry over Sakura (or at least, fuss and worry as much as Sai and Yamato ever did), and then quietly took her aside when everything had settled down a bit.

Of course, Naruto had protested, loudly asking what was so secret about their discussion, and Sasuke had...twitched, for lack of a better word, as though he wanted to protest but was silencing himself.

Sakura, apparently noting his dark look, had told him to cheer up, had smiled at him...

And then Kakashi had seen it – that look Juugo had described. The slight softening of Sasuke's eyes, the barely-visible relaxation of muscles around his mouth; it was as the blonde had said, as though if Sasuke had been a different sort of man, he would have smiled at her.

But Kakashi didn't let his surprise deter him from his objective; he needed to ask Sakura about her experiences as a captive. No matter how distasteful the answer.

He was ready to discard the idea that Sasuke had raped her – no one was that comfortable with their rapist, and some part of Kakashi had never really accepted that Sasuke could have done something like that – but just because Sasuke hadn't violated her, didn't rule it out. Sound had gained an ugly reputation in its treatment of captured kunoichis...

But when he asked about what had happened to her in Sound, Sakura gave him a penetrating gaze, apparently understanding what he was really asking, and shrugged.

"It wasn't pleasant...but I wasn't raped, if that's what you're asking," she said quietly. "I managed to transform myself into a boy before I was caught. Not that it ruled it out, but it made it less likely, statistically speaking. And there was no way I was going to get caught as Haruno Sakura."

Something in Kakashi relaxed, a tightness he hadn't known was there melting away at her words. "What happened after you were caught? And for that matter, how were you caught?"

"I was really low on chakra when I left that village Tsunade sent me to, and when I saw a small caravan train being attacked, I just kinda jumped in without thinking about it." Sakura flushed a little at the memory of her own foolishness. And yet, considering the end result, she couldn't bring herself to truly regret it.

A reprimand was hovering on the tip of Kakashi's tongue, but he didn't want to waste his breath. Sakura's compassion was a part of her, and no amount of reprimands were ever going to change that.

Sakura related her tumble into the river, transformation and capture. She described the collar that had been placed on her, how Sasuke had picked her as his personal slave, how her identity had been revealed by Orochimaru and Kabuto, and Sasuke had then placed her in his room.

"And Orochimaru allowed this?" Kakashi sounded skeptical.

Sakura flushed. "Well...he was planning on getting something out of this. I mean, we all know Orochimaru can only use his vessel for as long as that body will live, right? So he'd need a vessel after Sasuke. Sasuke and I only really cottoned on after Kabuto gave me what he said was a contraceptive-"

Kakashi had a feeling he knew where this was going.

"-but was really a kind of fertility drug, if you get my meaning." Sakura's blush darkened further. "So, we figured Orochimaru wanted Sasuke to get me pregnant, and thus, provide him with his next vessel."

Her nose wrinkled briefly in disgust before she went on. "And once I was in Sasuke's room, everyone just left me alone because they were afraid of pissing him off. So don't worry Kakashi – the whole slave experience wasn't fun, but no one did anything to me."

"Finally...why are you wearing what appears to be Sasuke's shirt?" This question was probably unnecessary, but Kakashi was curious.

Sakura shifted uncomfortably. "Umm...Itachi sort of...kidnapped me-"

Kakashi stiffened.

"-and he wanted to ensure Sasuke would be willing to kill him, so he...he made it look like he'd raped me. He wrecked my clothes, so Sasuke gave me his shirt to cover me."

"So that's how you got the bruises." It wasn't a question, and there was a dangerous sort of tension in Kakashi's voice and stance. "And that bite."

"That's how I got the bruises...and the bite," Sakura agreed, covering the imprint of Itachi's teeth self-consciously. She made a mental note to heal that before they returned to the village. "But I wasn't really hurt. Not then or...well, ever. Strange as it seems, Sasuke looked after me." Except for that beating she'd gotten in her early days, but she wasn't counting that – it wasn't like Sasuke could have done anything about it anyway.

And Sasuke really had looked after her, as best as he was able. He'd protected her from the other ninjas in Sound, shielded her from Orochimaru's and Kabuto's machinations, done his best to ensure she never came to harm during her travels with him...

Sakura knew Sasuke's re-integration into Konoha would be anything but smooth. But some part of her had accepted that. Few things worth gaining came without a fight, and Konoha was her home territory – Sasuke had protected her on his turf, but now it would be the other way around.

Now, it would be her turn to protect him.

"Hey, what are you guys talking about that has to be so secret, anyway?" Naruto whined, appearing beside Sakura so suddenly she flinched.

"Kakashi was just asking for my report on what happened to me," she answered bluntly. "I gave him the basics."

"Oh, good – does that mean we can eat now?"

-xxx-

"You okay?" Sakura asked Sasuke in a low voice.

The others were happily eating and laughing around the campfire, and with the din created by Naruto's whining that he'd forgotten to bring his instant ramen, she was quite certain no one could overhear them.

Since she'd woken up, Sakura had noticed that Sasuke had been rather withdrawn, even by his standards. She recognised the blank look in Sasuke's eyes – he'd worn a similar one after Madara had dropped his bombshell in the cave. It was as though he wasn't quite sure what he was doing anymore, like he was traveling through a minefield while blindfolded.

Sakura had a feeling that Sasuke hadn't even begun to work through what had happened, what he'd learned. It would be a lot for even an emotionally stable person to swallow (it was a lot for _her_ to swallow, come to that), let alone someone who had a history like his.

Sasuke had never really dealt well with emotional connection in the first place. Some part of her thought that might have contributed to his departure from Konoha – he'd been trying to get rid of her and Naruto before he grew too attached to him, trying to shed love and compassion because he'd learned that all it ever gained him was pain.

And to take a guess, Sakura would say that most of Sasuke's conflict came from what Itachi had done. He'd built his life around the pain of losing his family, but now that he knew why Itachi had done it, he probably felt as though all the hurt his brother had caused was suddenly invalidated. That he had no right to resent what Itachi had done, because his brother had loved him.

Which was ridiculous, of course – he had every right to feel hurt over what his brother had done – and he'd surely realise that if he was thinking straight...but Sakura had a feeling Sasuke wouldn't be thinking straight.

Sakura wasn't sure exactly what she could do to help...but she could at least offer him a friendly ear.

Not to mention, she was still waiting for an explanation for the kiss. She wasn't going to let him get away with ignoring it and doing nothing – _he'd_ kissed _her_, for god's sake, and he was either going to tell her what he'd been thinking or she was going to make him!

"I'm fine," Sasuke muttered.

"Yeah, _right,_" Sakura said, sarcasm in every syllable.

Sasuke expected her to follow that up with a lecture as to why he wasn't okay and an insistence not to lie to her, so he was surprised when she didn't say anything after her rather inelegant statement.

Yet he was grateful for it. Sasuke didn't know if he could have coped with conversation right now – he was still in shock. Now that the crisis of Sakura's collapse had passed, his mind had slipped back into the dark mire.

The pillar of his existence – the one thing he thought he was true, was absolute, that he had built his life around – had been toppled and broken into pieces.

Itachi had loved him all along. All of Itachi's crimes could be traced back to the orders of those council members.

He had a feeling that, in time, this black hole of despair would transform itself into murderous anger at those three elders, but for now, the fury he felt towards them was dim, smothered by sorrow.

Some part of him still couldn't accept that his father and mother (and indeed, the rest of the clan) had been willing to start a civil war. Sasuke had never really questioned all the clan meetings his father had held – to him, that had simply been the way his clan worked. But now he realised many of those meetings had probably been councils held to plan for their coup.

It was his parents who had been willing to induce bloodshed and violence. It was Itachi who had wanted peace.

Itachi had tried to protect him for years, had been prepared to die so he could return to Konoha...and had tried to impart one last lesson before he perished.

_What are you thinking of?_

Sasuke had gone to Orochimaru with the belief that cold, calculated focus on a single goal was the path to power. That you either obtained strength on your own account and for your own sake or did not obtain it at all.

And yet...

He had been determined to kill Itachi in the name of vengeance, and he had thought that dark, oppressive need could never be surpassed. But it had. It had been swallowed in that moment of pure, blinding resolve when he realised that more than his vengeance hung in the balance, that Sakura's life hinged on the outcome of his battle.

Even now, even knowing that Itachi had not truly harmed her, he could still remember that moment. When he had been so tired, so close to giving up in front of a seemingly-invincible foe...and then he had heard Sakura groan, and purpose had thundered through his veins like lightning, cool and calm and blinding in its clarity.

He had stood his ground not out of a desire for vengeance, but from a need to protect Sakura.

Not she needed his protection that much anymore. In their brief battle, Sakura had kicked him around like he was a stray pine cone.

Another thing Sasuke was having trouble digesting. In spite of all she had done, some part of him hadn't been able let go of the old Sakura, the one who had hung back on the sidelines, who had cried when she was injured...

At least, he hadn't been able to let go until he was on the ground with her above him, his limbs useless dead weights at his side.

He had been clinging to the past, still unwilling to admit she was different now. Because if that had changed...how much else had changed?

She hadn't said a word about the kiss. He had expected something; a demand for an explanation, a hint of starry eyes perhaps...but there was nothing. She hadn't mentioned it once, hadn't made any sort of reciprocal gesture, hadn't given any sort of indication his rather impulsive action had been welcome.

Which was probably her polite way of telling him to forget the whole thing. Trying to say that she didn't want that – didn't want _him_ – anymore, without the sting of outright rejection.

It hurt, but some part of Sasuke could admire the fact that she was trying to be kind to him – he'd never offered her the same consideration.

She was too good for him. He had always known that.

But it still hurt.

Sasuke was so immersed in his thoughts that he started when Sakura spoke again.

"I think you can still hate what he did, you know? Even taking into account that he was ordered to do it, that he loved you enough to spare you...I think you can still hate that he killed your family."

And once again, Sasuke was left staring, uncomfortable at the level of insight Sakura seemed to have into his mind at times.

He could understand when Naruto and Kakashi did it – they'd lead similar lives, after all. But Sakura? Was she just that intelligent, just that compassionate...or did she just know him that well?

Something told Sasuke it was probably a mix of the three.

Sakura offered him a small smile, and – in an effort to be comforting – leaned against his shoulder. Not hugging him, but still allowing him to feel her presence and support.

She was left staring into the crackling fire for long moments, but eventually, she felt Sasuke move to rest his head against hers.

-xxx-

"_For love is a flower that grows in any soil, works its sweet miracles undaunted by autumn frost or winter snow, blooming fair and fragrant all the year, and blessing those who give and those who receive…"_

_-Louisa May Alcott _

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye for beta-ing, as usual._


	22. Home

**Chapter 22**

**Home**

"_Home is a name, a word; it is a strong one, stronger than magician ever spoke or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration."_

– _Charles Dickens_

-xxx-

"You're a regular little ray of sunshine, aren't you?" Suigetsu grumbled.

Generally speaking, he was fond of Sakura...but it was hard to feel particularly kindly inclined towards someone who was so cheerful while he was in chains.

"I'm just really excited about going home," Sakura chirped.

"As we've heard," Karin snapped. "Don't you ever shut up?"

"Didn't you hear her?" Suigetsu sniped. "She's excited to go home and see her friends. Or maybe you don't know what's that like – after all, I doubt anyone was ever excited to see you."

Sakura shook her head as Karin and Suigetsu degenerated into argument, only the chains around their wrists preventing it from turning physical.

"You know, those two kind of remind me of you guys," she remarked to Naruto and Sasuke.

Sasuke scowled, apparently deeply offended, and Naruto looked in much the same frame of mind.

"We're not like them!" the blonde yelped. "We're not!"

"You're a bit like them," Sakura insisted. "Bicker, outright argue, fight, get along for a little while, then go back to bickering...just like you guys."

"We're not like that!" Naruto repeated. "Back me up here, bastard!"

"But you are like that," Sakura grinned, staying her course more out of teasing than any real determination. "It's a cycle – you guys fight, then get along, then fight, then get along..."

The medic's grin broadened as Naruto again fervently denied it, while Sasuke seemed content to pretend she hadn't said anything. She couldn't resist ribbing the blonde occasionally, but she had noticed the impulse to let fly with cutting, sarcastic comments had dwindled significantly. Probably because now that her collar was gone and she was free and traveling back to Konoha with her friends, her constant low level anger and frustration had disappeared.

She was about to make another teasing comment to Naruto, when something suddenly struck her as off. Ninjas were very attuned to their surroundings, and an instinctive prickling at the back of her neck was telling her that something was wrong.

A glance around her told her the others seemed to be feeling the same. People around her were glancing over their shoulders, scanning the trees around them...even Suigetsu and Karin had ceased arguing.

It was Suigetsu who noticed the way Juugo had become ominously still, the way rippling black marks were radiating across his body. "Uhh...guys?"

But he got no further than that. With a roar like a wounded lion, the large blonde lunged for Hinata, who had been walking beside him. His hand closed over her throat, his strength yanking her straight off the ground to dangle from his chokehold.

"Juugo!" Sakura shrieked.

Hinata struck at the arm that was constricting her throat instinctively, trying to force him to release her. But her chakra-infused strikes seemed to make no impression on the blonde's grey, suddenly craggy flesh, and Juugo pulled back his other arm to the limits of the shackles with a dark laugh, his fingers sprouting long, wicked talons that could carve into Hinata's flesh like kunai...

But the claws never touched her. Naruto slammed into the larger man's side, bodily tackling him to the ground and causing him to loosen his grip on Hinata out of shock.

The dark-haired girl landed heavily, only just managing to stay on her feet. The two blondes were rolling on the ground, struggling wildly, the others unable to dive in and help Naruto in case they accidentally hit him in the whirling mass of limbs.

But Sakura knew that they might soon have to restrain Naruto as well. From what she could see of him, the distinctive whisker marks on his face had become more prominent, his canine teeth had elongated and his eyes were starting to tinge red...all signs that the Kyuubi was close to the surface.

Which probably explained why Naruto wasn't stepping back. Logic was being lost in the Kyuubi's wild desire for violence.

And yet she had to do something. Naruto – ever noble – was trying not to damage the man he was grappling with, but she had a feeling it was only the chains around Juugo's wrists that stopped him from loosing potentially fatal attacks.

People around her were yelling Naruto's name, and Kakashi's and Yamato's eyes were tracking the fight, obviously searching for an opening, while Sai was already furiously scribbling on one of his blank scrolls, calling inky animals to try to separate the combatants.

But it wasn't working. Naruto and Juugo were too entangled to present many openings, and the animals Sai drew simply exploded into splatters of ink, destroyed by casual swats and blows. Shino's bugs were swarming about them, attempting to drain their chakra, but both had such massive reserves that the medic knew it would take a while.

"Sasuke, get ready!" Sakura yelled, knowing they would need his Sharingan to calm Juugo – and possibly Naruto, too, depending on far gone he was.

And then Sakura waded in, grabbing whatever part of the struggling two she could reach. Managing to snag Naruto's collar and Juugo's arm, she used her inhuman strength to literally wrench them apart and send them flying in opposite directions, making sure to plant Juugo directly opposite Sasuke. It wasn't the most sensible thing she'd ever done, but at least she escaped injury, though that was mainly because Sai had seen her move and had inked writhing tentacled creatures that restrained the blondes' extremities and prevented them from lashing out at her.

The Sharingan whirled, and Juugo was himself again.

Sakura sent a concerned glance towards Naruto, reassured when she realised that he seemed to have a hold on himself once more.

But he was still rather angry.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto yelled. "He just went berserk! Are you okay, Hinata – he didn't hurt you, did he?"

"I'm f-fine," the Hyuuga stammered, Naruto's concern making her flush bright red.

"I'm sorry." Juugo's head was bowed as if he couldn't bear to look at the people around him. "I'm sorry, I...I didn't mean..."

Sakura hurried to the blonde man's side, touching her fingertips to his temple, her chakra pulsing from her fingers as she used it to try to influence his hormone levels, as she had done once before.

Only when the last of the tension had eased from Juugo's muscles did Sakura deem it safe to draw back.

"This is what I was telling you guys about," she said in a low voice. "Juugo doesn't want to do this – he just can't control himself when he's like this."

Kakashi nodded, still not ready to relax. Over dinner last night, with Yamato and Hinata watching the prisoners, Sakura had explained about Juugo's infliction, feeling everyone should be informed in case a situation like this arose.

"He's crazy," Suigetsu drawled, with his usual tact and sensitivity.

"It's not his fault!" Sakura defended. "He'd probably have learned some control over it by now if he hadn't been locked up and experimented on-"

"What do you know?" Karin screeched, and probably would have followed that up with either an insult or a defense of Orochimaru's methods, but Suigetsu cut in with his usual insults and the two of them degenerated into argument.

Sakura watched them go off at each other with a touch of bewilderment. She'd only been joking when she compared them to Naruto and Sasuke – Karin and Suigetsu's arguments reached a level of viciousness that her teammates almost never descended to. And almost all of their arguments were instigated by an insult Suigetsu had hurled.

But then again, Suigetsu had told her Karin had experimented on him, so there was probably good reason for his incessant needling.

Juugo shifted beside her, his head still ducked low in shame, as though he couldn't bear to look at anyone around him. Sakura slipped her hand into his, and when his head jerked to her in shock, she gave him a gentle, forgiving smile.

The blonde gave a timid smile in return, then slipped his hand from hers as he stepped onwards once more.

The party began moving again, with a lot of muttering and sideways glances at Juugo, but in spite of their obvious mistrust Sakura could have laughed. She had seen Naruto touch Hinata's shoulder to get her attention, then duck his head to check the bruises already forming on her neck. The dark-haired girl's cheeks were still glowing with the remnants of her blush.

"That was stupid," came Sasuke's voice, right in her ear.

Sakura squashed the instinctive urge to bristle and snap at him, and simply tilted her head. "How do you figure?"

"You could have been killed!" Sasuke hissed, looking as though his shackles were all that kept him from strangling her. "Either one of them could have killed you with a lucky blow, accidentally or deliberately."

Sakura snorted. "Well, duh. I knew that."

And she _had_ known it. Juugo was so strong and so physically large compared to her that a backhanded blow could easily snap her neck. Naruto had been starting to access the Kyuubi, and they'd already seen that he had trouble distinguishing friend from foe when he was immersed too deeply in the demon's chakra.

Sasuke, for his part, couldn't quite credit what he'd just heard. Sakura had knowingly waded into a brawl in which either combatant was more than capable of killing her?

"Look, we needed to separate them, and I was probably the best chance of doing that without hurting them," the medic explained.

While some part of Sasuke's brain could acknowledge that Sakura was probably right, most of it was still screaming in sheer indignation at what she'd done. She could have gotten herself killed! Did that mean nothing to her?

Apparently correctly interpreting his disbelieving expression, Sakura sighed. "Sasuke, it was a calculated risk – we're ninjas, we take them all the time."

Sasuke knew that – Sakura had probably taken far more dangerous risks while traveling with him – but it didn't mean he had to like it!

But Sakura wasn't paying any attention to his scowl. "We're almost there, anyway."

Another broad grin spread over her face as they traversed the last mile to Konoha.

-xxx-

Tsunade was caught between happiness, wild relief, and unbridled fury. It was fortunate that the first two emotions were directed towards Sakura's return, and the last towards Sasuke's return, so she could parcel them out appropriately.

"So, you thought you'd come back and we'd...what? Welcome you with open arms?" she hissed at the Uchiha who was standing chained in her office, even as she hugged her apprentice to her.

"I didn't expect anything," Sasuke said in an even voice. "But I and my companions willingly surrendered to Konoha, and so I ask for clemency."

Tsunade snorted. She'd heard about his companions – Kakashi had gone ahead of the party to give her a brief rundown before they entered the village. She'd ordered Sasuke's team incarcerated, and while Kiba, Shino, Hinata and Yamato were taking care of that, she'd ordered Sasuke and the others to come to her office immediately.

Mainly to see Sakura as soon as possible, but also so she could chew Sasuke out. Kakashi had told her his impression of Sasuke was that of someone who had changed, but Tsunade wasn't sure how much she cared or how much weight she was going to give to that.

After all, she hadn't known Sasuke personally. All she knew of the Uchiha was that she'd healed him from an encounter with the Mangekyou Sharingan when she'd returned to Konoha, and the next thing she heard of him was that he'd abandoned the village.

Reports since then had detailed that he'd attempted to kill Naruto at least twice, and while Kakashi had told her he didn't think Sasuke had raped Sakura, he didn't deny that his former protégé had held her against her will.

Which meant that Tsunade wasn't feeling particularly inclined to be kind to him. But at the same time, she was honestly bewildered as to what to do with him. There was no precedent for this – never before had a missing-nin returned to their village, asking for forgiveness. They were usually dragged back in chains, if they were alive at all, and while Sasuke _was_ shackled Kakashi had told her he'd been very cooperative all throughout.

So what the hell was she going to do with him?

Tsunade wished Shizune hadn't hidden the last of her sake that morning.

"Lady Tsunade," Sakura began tentatively. "Please, just hear us out before you decide anything."

The Hokage pursed her lips in a grimace of distaste before leaning back in her chair. "Sure, why not?" she drawled, practically challenging Sasuke to make this explanation good. "Go ahead..."

But it was Sakura who spoke, detailing her capture, her collaring and her selection as Sasuke's personal slave. She explained how Orochimaru and Kabuto had revealed her, that Sasuke had dragged her off to his room immediately after, and that Orochimaru permitted it because he wanted Sasuke to get Sakura pregnant and provide him with his next vessel.

"Which is probably how those stupid rumours got out," Naruto chimed in, with the look of a man who had just figured out a bothersome puzzle.

"What rumours?" Sakura asked.

Naruto blushed. "Um...you see...there was..."

"Lady Tsunade received information that Sasuke had been raping you," Sai explained, his statement only made more unsettling by the cheery, blank smile on his face.

Sakura couldn't help the giggle that exploded from her lips. The idea of Sasuke doing something like that was so ludicrous she just _had_ to laugh.

Naruto blinked at her. "It's _that_ funny?"

"It is," Sakura agreed. "I mean sure, I was scared of him at first, but only that he'd kill me. And stop scowling, Sasuke, you know I had good reason to think that!"

Sasuke blinked – he hadn't realised he'd been scowling. But some part of him had bristled at the idea that she had believed he might have killed her.

Even though he could admit she had good reason to have been scared of him, given how their previous encounter had gone...but some part of him doubted he would have hurt her, even then. Sakura had always been different.

Not even different in the way Naruto and Kakashi had been different. Different in her own way – unique. Naruto was his friend, Kakashi was his mentor, and Sakura was...Sakura.

"Even when he pinned me on the bed, I still wasn't worried that he might...you know, do _that_."

"He pinned you on a bed?" Naruto echoed, his eyes bugging.

"So the traitor didn't rape you, he just molested you?"

"_Sai!_" Sakura yelled, looking scandalised.

"So you aren't pregnant? After all, you fainted, and I've heard pregnant women are known to faint-"

"_SAI!_" This time, Sakura delivered a smart, closed-fisted rap to the back of his head. "It wasn't like that!"

"Then what _was_ it like?" Tsunade asked, her hands curled into tight fists.

"We had to sleep in the same bed so Orochimaru and Kabuto would think we were having sex," Sakura said, in as professional and detached a tone as she could manage. "One night I tried to knock him out and escape, but he was awake and ended up pinning me on the bed to stop me getting away."

The mood in the room seemed to palpably relax a little, and Sasuke scowled again. Did they honestly think he would have stooped that low, done something that despicable?

_'But why wouldn't they?'_ came a nasty little voice in the back of his mind. _'You haven't exactly been the model of goodness and virtue...'_

Sasuke grimaced, only barely hearing Sakura retell the gathering of Hebi and their travels together. But he did notice when she completely omitted their kiss, making it seem as if he'd just taken her to the cave, said she could go, and then Itachi had appeared.

Sakura skimmed over Itachi's staged rape with as little detail as possible (glad that she'd healed the bitemark earlier that morning) and described the battle as she'd seen it – though not without a quick glance at Sasuke for permission.

Sasuke paid little attention to her story – he'd already lived through it, after all – though he did note Kakashi glancing speculatively at him when Sakura mentioned his final stand against Itachi.

"What changed your mind?" the silver-haired man asked.

Sakura stopped her recitation, glancing between the two men.

"What do you mean 'what changed his mind'?" Naruto said. "When did Sasuke change his mind?"

"Sakura said he seemed to be weakening, and then she noticed him going on the offensive again," Kakashi elaborated, his visible eye piercing. "So...what changed your mind, Sasuke?"

Sasuke's first impulse was not to answer. But what purpose would that serve? "I realised I needed to win."

"For your vengeance." Kakashi felt a sharp stab of disappointment. Somehow, some part of him had hoped that Sasuke would have finally realised that there were more important things in life than his own goals and ambitions.

"No." Even Sasuke was surprised that he had spoken. But he had heard the disappointment in Kakashi's voice, the bitterness, and something in him wanted to correct that.

"Then what?" Kakashi asked cautiously.

Sasuke didn't say anything for long moments. Just when Naruto was starting to fidget, he focused his gaze on the wall in front of him and said, "I realised that it was likely Sakura's life depended upon the outcome of the battle. I knew I couldn't win, but I had to take Itachi down with me or at least buy her time to escape."

Sakura, Tsunade, and Naruto gaped at him. Kakashi was looking somewhat surprised and yet a little smug at the same time. And Sai was simply staring at him with a rather blank face, even by his standards.

"I thought he had already raped her," Sasuke said, a shade of defensiveness leaking into his voice. "I didn't want to think about what he'd do to her once I was dead."

Kakashi tried not to let his satisfaction show in the tense, disbelieving silence that had descended after Sasuke's words. It calmed something in him to know that, at the end, Sasuke hadn't tried to kill Itachi purely for revenge. The jounin knew that would have twisted in the Uchiha, for in spite of everything that had happened, Itachi had still been his brother.

But in the end, Sasuke had struck out to defend Sakura, to try to spare her from a fate he had believed would consist of quick death at best, further violation beforehand at worst.

And then the tension was broken by – unsurprisingly – Naruto, when the blonde laughed. "Sasuke's got a crush on Sakura!"

"Shut up, idiot," Sasuke gritted out.

"Sasuke's gotta crush on Sakuuu-ra, Sasuke's gotta crush on Sakuuu-ra," Naruto sang.

Tsunade coughed sharply, trying to drag the attention of all in the room to her and off Sasuke's rather uncharacteristic declaration. "Yes, now getting back to the point..."

"Sasuke's gotta crush on Sakuuu-ra..."

"_Shut up!_" the Hokage snapped. "As you were saying, Sakura?"

The medic shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not sure if the next part is really mine to tell..."

"It's alright," Sasuke said flatly. "Tell them."

So, hesitantly, Sakura spoke of what Madara had told them, of the council's role in the massacre.

"And you just believed him?" Tsunade made sure to layer her voice with as much skepticism as possible, even as some part of her mind reminded her that she'd never felt she could trust those three council members.

"It explains a lot of things about Itachi," Sakura pointed out. "Little things that never quite added up, you know? Why he killed his clan, why he returned to Konoha with his Akatsuki partner for about two seconds but didn't actually kill anyone and then never came back again...and why he didn't rape me."

Kakashi could silently concede a point there. If Itachi really was the coldhearted criminal he had seemed...why not rape Sakura? She had told them he admitted the staged attack was for Sasuke's benefit...so why not actually do it? From Sakura's description, he'd certainly had enough time to assault her, she'd been unable to put up real resistance with the collar on...

Itachi sparing her made no sense...unless he factored in Madara's story. Then it explained everything.

"And that's why you came back?" Tsunade asked, shooting a brief glance at Sasuke.

Sasuke nodded jerkily. "I ask that I am given the task of assassinating them."

No one questioned that it would be an assassination. If what Sakura had told them was correct, then there was literally nothing else they could do with the council members. Their knowledge of Konoha's inner workings was too deep and thorough to send them into exile, and with such knowledge it was too dangerous to place them in prison.

_'I can't deal with this right now,'_ Tsunade thought, rubbing at one of her temples. She needed to get good and drunk and hope that, in the meantime, all this settled down into something she could accept.

She couldn't just take Sasuke and Sakura's word for this, especially if their information was just hearsay from an Akatsuki. Sasuke would have to be placed on trial, one that could still end in his execution, even considering that he'd returned of his own free will.

"Sasuke will have to be placed in custody," she said at last, holding up a hand to quiet Naruto's automatic objections. "Sai, Kakashi – stick with him."

The two ANBU nodded, apparently understanding her reasons for assigning them baby-sitting duty. Tsunade was taking no chances – if the accusations against the council members was true, then it was possible they might try to have him covertly killed off either before or during his trial.

-xxx-

Sakura tried to calm a very fidgety Naruto down as he practically hopped around the small room that served as something of a reception for Konoha's ninja prison. Shinobi were held here to await interrogation or trial, depending on whether they were enemies or accused Leafs.

Sasuke was a little of both.

After the Uchiha had been taken away by Sai and Kakashi, Sakura had made a brief detour to her house before making her way to the prison. Now, with the last of the salt and sand scrubbed from her hair, and wearing clothes that belonged to her (which she was never going to take for granted again), she and Naruto were attempting to visit Sasuke.

Only, it was very difficult to get access to S-ranked missing-nin.

"We're not going to bust him out!" Naruto yelled at the pair of shinobi manning the front desk. "Why would we, after we went through so much trouble to get the bastard back here?"

Sakura couldn't help but snicker at that, even as she prepared to shriek at Naruto to calm down.

"You know, I don't think yelling will help much," came Kakashi's distinctive drawl.

Sakura's eyes jerked to the barred door that lead to the lower levels, sealed with all manner of locks and jutsu. Kakashi was on the other side, and waved merrily when he noticed her gaze.

"Kakashi!" Naruto bellowed, making Sakura wince as his voice echoed off the stone walls surrounding them – the shinobi prison was built very solidly.

"You can get us in, right?" the blonde was babbling eagerly. "You can get these jerks to-"

He stuttered to an abrupt halt when Kakashi shook his head. "Sasuke's a very notorious missing-nin who's only just been incarcerated – they're not going to allow visitors, yet."

"But you and Sai-"

"Have been assigned by the Hokage to watch him," Kakashi finished. "You two weren't."

Naruto muttered something under his breath about tyrannical grannies and their stupid orders. Sakura privately thought he was lucky Tsunade wasn't in the immediate vicinity.

Kakashi's words seemed directed especially towards her when he spoke again. "You can probably come back tomorrow, but for now, go home and get some sleep."

While Sakura was rather miffed at being denied access to Sasuke, she couldn't deny that the prospect of a long sleep in her own bed was very tempting. It had been a long time since she'd slept in an actual bed, and even longer since she'd slept in her own.

So she dragged a protesting Naruto into the streets, insisting that he buy her some ramen after her ordeal. Maybe that would calm him down enough so he could go home afterwards.

Sakura also had a long list of things she needed to do. First, she had to see Ino, reassure her friend she was safe and unhurt, and, if those rumours about she and Sasuke had been circulating through the village, assure her she was still a virgin. Then she wanted to check on the other members of Team Hebi – even if she had no particular fondness for Karin, she wanted to make sure Suigetsu and Juugo were being treated well. And she also needed to speak to Lady Tsunade about Juugo and possible treatments – the blonde desperately needed help, and Sakura refused to believe that Konoha's medical jutsu couldn't do something to help him.

But she planned on getting some sleep first. After what she'd been through, Sakura felt she'd more than earned a night of uninterrupted rest in her own bed before she started worrying about everything else.

Perhaps she was being a little blasé about Sasuke's predicament...but after all they'd been through, some part of Sakura refused to accept that his trial might end in execution. After all, he'd never actually moved against Konoha, and he'd rid the village of the threat of Orochimaru and Deidara of the Akatsuki. And while she and her friends knew that Itachi hadn't actually been a threat to the village, public opinion still held him as one of Konoha's most frightening enemies.

And Sakura didn't think the man who had disposed of so many of Konoha's enemies would be put to death.

-xxx-

"So why did you do it?" Sai asked, honestly curious.

No matter how much he turned it over in his mind, he couldn't fathom deserting Sakura and Naruto, whatever happened. They were the only people he could truly call friends, and in spite of Naruto's brashness and Sakura's temper, Sai felt that what he had with them was likely as close to a bond of love and loyalty that he was ever going to get.

"It's none of your business," Sasuke snapped, staring at the opposite wall of his cell.

He wondered when Kakashi would be back. Hopefully soon – Sai got on his nerves. He told himself it was the unsettlingly empty smile and blank face that irritated him so much, but Sasuke really knew that his dislike of Sai stemmed from the impression that the other boy had taken his place. That Team 7 was no longer open to him, because his seat had been filled by someone else.

He knew it was irrational – he was the one who had chosen to turn his back on them, so he had no right to be feeling hurt now.

"I'm just curious," Sai said honestly. "I can't understand why someone would desert Sakura and Naruto, so I am endeavouring to understand why you did."

"But you did, too," Sasuke reminded him, absurdly pleased to have caught the flaw in Sai's little speech. "When we first met."

"I was following my mission," Sai explained, not sounding offended in the least. "And I doubt I could do so again, even should the mission call for it."

His brow creased, not exactly a frown, but probably the closest he'd come to one. "When I think of doing so, I feel ill, as though I might vomit. Sakura tells me this is normal when contemplating something uncomfortable or unpalatable."

"Sakura tells you?" Sasuke queried before he could stop himself.

Sai nodded. "She and Naruto do their best to explain these things to me. They are usually patient, as long as I try to restrict the number of times I call them Dickless or Ugly."

Sasuke scowled. When Sai had first spouted his ridiculous nickname for Sakura, Sasuke's first thought was that the other boy must suffer from some sort of visual impairment. He didn't care how clueless about social interactions Sai was – calling Sakura ugly was surely indicative of some sort of problem with his sight.

"Are you going to answer my question?" Sai's voice broke into his thoughts.

"I needed power," Sasuke barked, hoping that would be the end of it.

But Sai's brow had creased again. "But Sakura and Naruto seem to have become powerful by remaining in Konoha. I am an ANBU, I have trained since I was old enough to walk, and I am not sure I would win if pitted against one of them in a true battle."

"Orochimaru knew how to unlock the power of the curse seal."

"I was given to understand that the curse seal had a negative effect on the mind and eroded the body. I had the impression it was not a weapon I would particularly wish to use."

Sasuke ground his teeth, riled by Sai's line of questioning. They seemed designed to point out his stupidity, and complete lack of any mocking tone only made it worse – somehow it was more humiliating that Sai wasn't actively trying to embarrass him.

But the truth was...he'd left Konoha because Naruto and Sakura were distracting him. He had gone into Team 7 with one goal in his life – revenge – and gradually, in tiny increments like sand through an hourglass, he'd found that goal slowly being subverted.

Like when he'd jumped in front of Naruto and taken the barrage of senbon. Before he knew it, their missions became scattered with such incidences, moments when he knowingly risked his life for his teammates'.

Yes, they had been doing the same, but that was different – they hadn't had someone they needed to kill before they died.

The more Sasuke thought about it, the more he believed that the chunin exam had been the turning point. When Naruto had saved Sakura, Sasuke had been left with a number of haunting 'what if's. What if Naruto hadn't been able to summon that toad? What if Gaara had simply tried to break Sakura's neck straight off instead of trapping her? What if Naruto hadn't been able to snap Gaara out of his induced sleep?

Sasuke had come up with only one answer to all those scenarios – they would have died. He had been completely unable to fight Gaara on the Suna shinobi's level – if his teammates had been forced to depend on him rather than Naruto, then they all would have died.

And soon, Sasuke had found himself training obsessively, not with revenge in mind, but so he wouldn't fail to protect them the next time around.

But there was no way he was telling Sai that.

He was almost relieved when Kakashi stepped into view again.

"Naruto and Sakura were just upstairs, trying to come in and see you," the white-haired man commented, plucking out his usual book and flipping the pages. "But you aren't allowed visitors yet, so I sent them home."

"And they went?" Sai mused.

"I think Sakura's a lot more tired than she's willing to admit, and she decided to drag Naruto along with her when she left."

Sai nodded. Kiba had often said Naruto was whipped, which Sai took to mean that the blonde often did whatever Sakura said in order to avoid her anger. Why this was something to scorn, Sai didn't know – avoiding Sakura's fury seemed a sensible survival mechanism.

He glanced at Sasuke, but the Uchiha's face was closed and tight, and he wasn't making eye contact. Sai recalled these as signs that a person didn't want to continue a conversation, and, remembering Naruto and Sakura's lectures on respecting privacy – _"There are some questions people just don't want to answer, Sai!"_ – he left him to his silence.

-xxx-

"And you are certain of this?" Danzo said, his voice low.

"Yes, sir." The Root member didn't nod – his voice held all the conviction he needed. "The source was very clear on that point."

The council member nodded once, dismissing the shinobi with a flick of his fingers.

And Danzo was left to decide what course of action he should take now that Haruno Sakura had – according to the source – learned the truth behind the Uchiha massacre.

The source also said Uchiha Sasuke knew it as well, but Danzo wasn't overly concerned about that. He was a traitor, likely to be executed, and any ranting about Konoha that took place during his trial would be written off as the ravings of a bitter missing-nin. And if Tsunade decided to spare him out of her weakness for her apprentice and the demon-brat, then Danzo would simply have him quietly assassinated and frame the Akatsuki for it.

But Haruno Sakura was trouble. She had standing in the village – she was respected, well-liked...if she began making noise about a massacre in the village engineered by the council, then people would listen.

It might not amount to an actual trial and sentencing, but over the years, Danzo had learned that suspicion and rumours could be almost as damning as an outright conviction. If he was to have any hope of retaining his status within the village, he needed to do something about Haruno Sakura.

So Danzo began to draw up an arrest warrant.

-xxx-

"_There is no remedy for love but to love more."_

_-Thoreau_

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye (you wonderful, patient woman) for beta-ing!_


	23. Trials

**Chapter 23**

**Trials**

"_The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."_

_-Mahatma Gandhi_

-xxx-

"So you're really not hurt?" Ino repeated.

"Really not hurt," Sakura said, grinning a little. "The whole slave-thing wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been."

And that was another thing she had to do – talk to Tsunade about the Sound village. She doubted it would be a priority to help the people there while there was so much turmoil in their own village, but she had to try.

She and Ino were currently making their way to the Hokage's tower – Sakura was hoping to speak with Tsunade about Juugo, and maybe wrangle permission to visit Sasuke as well. She'd feel better about all of this if she could just see him...

"And nothing happened with Sasuke?"

Sakura hesitated just long enough for Ino to pounce. "Something _did_ happen!"

"Er...sort of..."

"Sort of? How can something 'sort of' happen?"

In a very low voice and with a bright scarlet blush, Sakura related Sasuke's surprise kiss.

"He _kissed_ you?" Ino hissed, and then, strangely, burst into giddy laughter.

"What's so funny?" Sakura asked, a shade defensively. That kiss had been the cumulative moment of a years-long love, and she didn't appreciate Ino mocking it.

"Oh, Sakura, my dear, blind Forehead-girl-"

"_Hey!_"

"Haven't you figured it out yet? He's got a thing for you!"

Sakura stopped in her tracks, staring at her friend, swallowing hard as her mouth went suddenly dry. "What was that?"

"Sasuke's got a thing for you!"

Sakura forced all the skepticism possible into her voice, trying to ignore the way her heart thudded in her chest at Ino's words, like a caged bird desperate to fly. "Oh, really? And you can tell this just from my vague description of his actions, without seeing him or speaking to him or interacting with him in any way yourself?"

Ino shrugged, still grinning. "I don't need to. You told me all I need to know – Sasuke kissed you."

Sakura fought the blush that rose once again to her face, unable to stop her mind from skipping back to the gentle, warm pressure of Sasuke's lips on hers, the soft darkness of the cave, the blind wonder and love and warm, dangerous hope that flowered in her chest...

The medic became aware that Ino was still staring at her, and made herself respond. "And?"

"Think about that for a moment. Uchiha Sasuke kissed you. Uchiha, emotionless ice block, training-on-the-brain, never-so-much-as-looks-at-a-girl, Sasuke _kissed_ you."

Sakura thought. And Ino saw the exact moment when realisation dawned; that Sasuke, who had never been a fan of physical contact, let alone any vaguely sexual contact, whose only kiss had been an accident with Naruto, would only kiss someone he cared about a very, very great deal.

Someone he loved.

And Sakura had no idea what to do with that. Rejection by Sasuke, disinterest from Sasuke...she knew how to deal with those – that was firm, familiar ground. But this? No, this was new, this was...scary.

Because if Sasuke actually did want..._something_...with her...what happened now?

Yet, in spite of her anxiety, Sakura couldn't stop the smile that spread across her lips, nor the warm contentment the bloomed through every part of her body.

-xxx-

"It's likely your trial will begin today," Kakashi commented.

Sasuke flicked his gaze towards the single eye he could see over the bright orange book and then glanced away again, not wanting to reveal the anxiety that was curling in his gut.

Sasuke's chains rattled slightly as he shifted, and Kakashi realised the Uchiha had been fidgety since Sai had left early in the morning to ascertain when and where his trial was taking place.

He stared at his former student, silently wondering what he was so jumpy about. It would be unlikely that he would be executed – he suspected that Tsunade, like almost everyone else, saw Team 7 as the sannins reborn, and that sparing Sasuke would give her some kind of vicarious closure.

Perhaps it was wrong for her to spare a criminal for such a personal reason, but Kakashi saw no reason to point that out. He wanted Sasuke to be spared just as much as Naruto and Sakura did – he was just a little more subtle about it.

"Stop jumping around," he said carelessly, flipping another page in his book. But that was purely for show – he hadn't taken in a single sentence in several chapters. "You won't be executed."

"I'm not worried about that." Sasuke's voice sounded scornful.

"You're not worried about dying?"

Sasuke knew he could have stayed silent – he could have clammed up and turned away and Kakashi wouldn't have pursued the subject, because that's what he was like. Sasuke recognised that in him because he was very much the same – both of them were largely unwilling to talk, believing that actions expressed their intentions and purposes far better.

But if he held to that, his actions had not done much to inspire confidence in him. Kakashi had tried to tell him what awaited down the path of revenge, had tried to warn him, and what had he done? Ignored it and deserted the village anyway.

Really, words were all Sasuke had at the moment.

So he admitted why he'd been fidgeting. "The things I did when Sakura was with me...they can't hold her responsible for those, can they?"

"She can't be dragged into this trial, no," Kakashi assured him. "Both of you have made it quite clear that she was there against her will, and with the collar on there was little she could do to stop you. They might call her as a witness, but they can't charge her with anything."

Sasuke nodded, reassured that no matter how this trial turned out, Sakura wouldn't be dragged down with him.

Kakashi noted the way Sasuke seemed to relax at his words, and couldn't help asking the question that had been plaguing him, "Why did you come back?"

Sasuke thought about his answer. He could always say because he needed to get revenge on those council members, but that wasn't strictly true. He had been planning to get revenge without returning, until Sakura...

"I came back because you were right," Sasuke said at last. "What you said about revenge...you were right."

It had been as empty as Kakashi had said it would be. And when Sakura had screamed at him, had pleaded with him to return...Sasuke realised he could go back, and not feel so hollow anymore.

Kakashi nodded, just once, and bent his head back to his book.

But the air felt slightly clearer, as though a corner had been turned.

-xxx-

"And Lady Tsunade said you can start treatments within the week!" Sakura finished, beaming at Juugo through the bars of his cell.

Team Hebi had been deemed less dangerous than Sasuke, and so were being held on one of the medium security levels, while Sasuke was in the high security level, the only one that was below ground, and Team Hebi had also been permitted visitors. The first person Sakura had gone to see was Juugo – to give him the news of her talk with Tsunade. As Sakura had expected, the Hokage had been sympathetic to the blonde's plight, and had agreed that the full resources of the medical department and hospital would be available to Sakura to treat him.

So Sakura had hurried to Juugo's cell to tell him. She felt she owed the blonde to at least inform him before she took off for Sasuke's trial...and an explanation of that kiss.

If it had been an impulsive, spur of the moment action - a little unlike Sasuke, maybe – then...she'd deal with it. She'd dealt with losing him once before, she could certainly live through it again.

And if it wasn't, if it had really meant something, then...

Sakura had no idea what would happen then, but there was so much promise in the idea she wanted to both squeal like a lovesick girl and just sit silently and bask in it.

"You...you really think I can be cured?" Juugo asked tremulously.

"I think there's a very good chance," Sakura said, her multi-tasking mind already leaping ahead, planning what they were going to do.

First off, she'd have to induce a rage in Juugo where he could be monitored – she needed to find out what that enzyme was doing to his system. The rage and desperate urge to kill were unusual, but could probably be explained by a mix of chemicals...but the bizarre transformations? What enzyme made the body so malleable?

"How are the others?" Juugo asked quietly.

"Sasuke still isn't allowed visitors," Sakura informed him. "But he's with our old teacher, so I'm sure he's fine. Karin and Suigetsu are on different levels, but I'll be checking on them soon, before I have to serve as a witness at Sasuke's-"

A door banged at the end of the corridor, interrupting her, and a voice called, "Haruno Sakura!"

Sakura turned to see a three ANBU standing in the doorway, and felt her heart sink. If ANBU wanted her for something...it was either a very, very ugly mission that had gone so terribly wrong only she, Tsunade or Shizune could patch up the survivors or...

Or something had happened to Sasuke. Dread boiled through her veins.

"What is it?" she asked, trying to keep her voice somewhat calm as they approached. "What's wrong?"

And then she saw the shackles.

"Haruno Sakura," one of the shinobi intoned formally. "By order of the council, you are under arrest."

-xxx-

Karin stared at the shadows that sliced across her cell floor, imprints of the bars made by the fluorescent light in the corridor.

There were no windows, but then again, she hadn't really expected any. This was a shinobi prison – security measures were much stricter than those in civilian jails.

She wondered how Sasuke was doing. He had returned to the comrades he had betrayed, and Karin knew hidden villages weren't kind to missing-nin. Sasuke had to have known that...so why had he returned?

But whenever Karin thought about that, her mind cycled back to Suigetsu's words.

"_Told you he had a thing for her." _

Did he? Karin had been asking herself that for hours, turning over Sasuke's every interaction with Sakura, his every behaviour.

When she'd first met him, he'd been...unattainable, to say the least. Orochimaru's apprentice, astoundingly powerful, yet very remote, practically expressionless, someone who – at an age when most people listened more and more to the siren song of hormones – never showed a hint of interest in either gender.

It had often seemed as though he lived for one goal, and one goal alone – power. And that anything outside that purpose held absolutely no interest for him.

Maybe that was what had made him so attractive – the lure of trying to pierce his icy veneer.

But Sasuke hadn't acted that way with Sakura. He hadn't ignored her – on the contrary, he was almost always looking at her; glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, watching her when she talked with Juugo and Suigetsu, staring at her face with almost smouldering intensity when she addressed him...

He'd gone out of his way to protect her, always keeping her close to him...and Karin had seen how devastated he'd been when Itachi had kidnapped the pink-haired woman. It was only time she'd ever seen anything close to fear on Sasuke's face.

The more Karin thought about it, the more she realised that Suigetsu had spoken the truth. She doubted Sasuke's regard for Sakura was actually love (some part of her still wanted that illusion), but she couldn't doubt he cared for her. He cared deeply.

Karin sighed sadly. And if Sasuke cared so much for Sakura...where did that leave her?

-xxx-

Suigetsu rapped his knuckles against the bars of his cell, alternating bars to make alternate sounds, producing a bizarre sort of tune.

It was a testament to how bored he was that he thought that was something amusing. But he was rotting away down here! He'd followed Sasuke and Sakura back to Konoha for the entertainment value, and now he wanted to demand his money back!

He would have thought that Sakura would have come to visit him, even if only for a few minutes, just to check he was still breathing.

Then again, she'd been traveling with a known missing-nin, so there'd probably be a few kinks to work out before her security clearance was restored. But Suigetsu couldn't see that taking a long time – anything Sasuke had done that could be counted as remotely traitorous to the village had occurred at a time when she would have been unable to stop him. As far as Suigetsu knew, her collar had been removed, and then Sasuke had immediately acted to return to Konoha.

Not that he could recall anything blatantly anti-Leaf about any of Sasuke's actions, but village councils were often weird like that. But still, they couldn't blame Sakura for anything Sasuke had done...

Could they?

-xxx-

Sasuke tried not to be bothered by the stares and whispers as he was walked to the courthouse, flanked by Sai and Kakashi. Normally, he wouldn't be perturbed by them, but now they were one more irritation piled upon an already towering heap of annoyances.

First among them was that he didn't see Sakura in the gathering around the main entrance. He spotted Naruto's distinctive shock of gold hair making its way towards them through the crowd, but there was no spot of pink beside it.

Then he remembered that Kakashi had mentioned they might call her as a witness. Maybe witnesses were taken inside the courtroom immediately, as he would be?

"Hey, bastard!"

"Naruto, technically, you're not allowed to talk to him," Kakashi pointed out.

"_What?_ Why?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Because you could tell me what to say to gain the council's and Tsunade's sympathy, idiot."

"How the hell would I know that? I've never become a missing-nin, so how would I know how to talk the council into letting him off?"

"You could tell him about the personalities of the council, coach him on how to appeal to them...just things like that," Kakashi explained.

Naruto's frown told everyone he wasn't happy but apparently willing to play by the rules until the trial was over. He turned away, with much grumbling. "Fine, I'll guess I'll just go look for Sakura, then...stupid rule..."

Kakashi watched the blonde disappear into the crowd (at least, disappear as much as Naruto ever did), and made a mental note to arrange some sort of convenient meeting between him and Sasuke on the way to the restroom or something.

While those brief seconds of conversation had seemed almost normal, there had still been that underlying tension between them, as though neither were quite sure what to make of each other. Kakashi had felt the same, and an exchange of words between him and Sasuke, however short, had helped to ease that tension.

The least he could do was ensure Naruto had the same chance he'd had.

-xxx-

"Can I know what I'm under arrest for?" Sakura asked, trying not to let her uncertainty creep into her voice.

But she couldn't help noticing she was being walked out of the prison, which meant she was probably heading for interrogation. Nor could she help the prickle of fear that washed up her spine at the realisation.

Prison was one thing...interrogation was quite another.

Receiving no reply, she was about to open her mouth to ask again when she felt a sharp sting on the side of her neck, as though she'd been bitten by some kind of insect.

She jerked her head to the side, just in time to see the ANBU behind her tuck an empty syringe away.

_'They drugged me!'_ was all Sakura's mind was capable of spitting out before it began to go fuzzy. Her vision blurred, colours running together, her body feeling distant, disconnected from her brain.

And then everything shut off as though a switch had been flipped.

-xxx-

Sai watched the proceedings of the trial apparently dispassionately, an empty smile fixed firmly on his face to try to hide the tension worming in his gut.

He was out of his depth. He knew this because the feeling was similar to when he faced an opponent he knew he couldn't beat. Watching the trial, he found he both wanted Sasuke to be given clemency but also to be executed.

The latter desire came from the uncomfortable idea that with Sasuke around, there was no place for him. After all, it was Sasuke that Naruto and Sakura had fought so hard for – it was Sasuke whose place he had taken with Team 7, and now that the Uchiha was back, he was superfluous.

He glanced towards Naruto, who was watching the proceedings silently, looking grim. But he blinked suddenly, glancing to the side, and Sai realised that Hinata was standing beside him, and that she'd brushed her hand against his. Not exactly holding it, but very close to it.

Naruto smiled at her, then turned his attention back to the proceedings, and for a moment, Sai felt a twisting anger at the blonde, and at Sakura, too – everything had been so much simpler before they came along! But his fury abated quickly; it was difficult to truly resent either of them. Sai supposed that was what happened when you had friends.

He was only dimly aware of Tsunade declaring a recess before Kakashi was waving him over. Sai made his way slowly towards the silver-haired man and his 'prisoner', wondering what he wanted.

"Sasuke needs to go to the bathroom," Kakashi said, his face perfectly serious as the former Root member drew level with them.

Sasuke's head jerked towards Kakashi, indignation smoking in his eyes, but Sai wasn't surprised – Kakashi had discussed engineering a meeting between Naruto and the Uchiha during one of these court recesses. He'd bet that the blonde was already waiting in the bathroom, and Sai had a hunch he'd be standing guard to ensure no one intruded.

Some part of him bristled at the idea – he didn't want to help engineer a reconciliation between Naruto and Sasuke. He didn't want to help them push him out of the team.

Because if Naruto and Sakura didn't want to be his teammates anymore...what would he do?

-xxx-

Sasuke tried not to be bothered by the silence. But it was starting to get rather eerie.

Sasuke also tried to remember when Naruto had last been so silent...and came up blank. Unless he counted their journey back to Konoha, but Sasuke felt that was included in one big silence.

The silence that was pervading the small, white-tiled restroom now. Naruto was just staring at him, studying him, as though trying to determine if he should say anything, if he could trust him.

Then, apparently reaching some sort of conclusion, Naruto looked away from him and stared at his reflection in the mirror embedded in the wall over the sink, his mouth twisting in something that wasn't exactly a grimace, but wasn't exactly a grin either.

"You know, I sort of understand why you did it," Naruto said to the mirror.

Of everything he could have said to him, Sasuke hadn't been expecting that.

"I think Kakashi kind of does, too, but he probably won't admit it."

Naruto glanced at him for a moment, then looked away again. "I mean, I'm not saying I get it entirely...but I sort of understand."

Naruto didn't mention that the reason he later understood Sasuke's speech about bonds bringing pain was when Sasuke left, when the man he regarded as a brother tried to kill him, he had an inkling of what Sasuke must have felt. It couldn't really be compared, he knew – Sasuke had just left the village, he hadn't killed everyone Naruto held dear beforehand...but it had given him a glimpse of the pain that must have driven his teammate.

"But I do have one question," Naruto added. He didn't want to ask this – as well as being kind of creepy, it was downright awkward...but he had to know. "Those times...before...would you really have killed me?"

Sasuke's mouth twisted as he pondered the question. Would he have killed Naruto? The immediate response that came to mind was an emphatic denial – he couldn't imagine actually taking the blonde's life...

But that was now. And now, when Sasuke looked back at who he'd been barely a month or so ago, he felt a kind of bewilderment at some of his actions. He could understand them, yes, but now the actual deeds seemed...foreign to him.

Would he have killed Naruto? He had said he would on two occasions, but when it came down to the wire...he hadn't done it. He'd had the perfect chance in the valley, all those years ago, and he'd let it pass. He'd excused it to himself, telling himself he wanted to be better Itachi...but he'd still let it pass. And their confrontation at Orochimaru's base? He'd made to stab the other boy, but he'd been very, very slow about it. Almost a snail's pace, by his usual standards. If he'd wanted to, he could have flashed across the distance between them, plunged the katana into Naruto's gut or slashed it across his neck and flashed away again, and it was likely the rest of the team would have been too shocked to react.

But he'd been slow, practically inviting Naruto to dodge or for someone else to step in and stop him. And he hadn't pursued the matter, either. He could have ignored Orochimaru's words about sparing them, but instead he'd obeyed, leaving them in peace...and latching onto any excuse that would justify him sparing their lives.

"No, I don't think I would have killed you."

Something in Naruto relaxed. Though he didn't want to admit it, some part of him had been afraid of what Sasuke's answer would be.

The silence this time was softer somehow, more companionable.

"You know, you're still a bastard. And an asshole."

Strangely, Sasuke wanted to smile. "And you're still an idiot."

Naruto grinned.

The door soft click of the door opening seemed overly loud, and both men turned to find Sai in the doorway.

"What's up?" Naruto asked.

"I've been instructed to escort Sasuke back to his cell," Sai explained. "The trial has been postponed."

"_What?_" Naruto yelped. "Why?"

Sai shrugged. "The messenger told me that one of the witnesses was missing. I think Kakashi has left to try to find them."

Sasuke stiffened, his mind churning as he followed Sai out. One of the witnesses was missing? There couldn't be many witnesses in his trial – the only viable options were Sakura, Juugo, Suigetsu and Karin. He knew Sakura would have showed up to testify on his behalf, so did that mean one of Team Hebi had escaped?

Sasuke doubted it would be Juugo. Sakura had asked him to play along with the imprisonment and behave himself while she tried to get him treated, and the large blonde man would neither jeopardise the possibility of being cured nor go against Sakura's suggestion.

Suigetsu? Well, it was possible. The man thought rather highly of Sakura, but he was impulsive, reckless, and had a low tolerance for inactivity unless he was being entertained somehow – it was entirely likely he'd simply grown bored and broken out to try to stir things up a little.

Karin was another possibility. He thought her infatuation would have kept her from doing anything to damage his chances of clemency...but then again, she could have simply gotten tired of languishing in a jail cell.

Naruto made to follow, but found his shoulder grasped tightly by a jounin he vaguely remembered going on a few missions with.

"What's up?" Tsunade couldn't be sending him on a mission now...

"The prisoner, Juugo, has asked to speak with you."

Naruto blinked. His first reaction was suspicion, remembering the brutal throttling Sasuke's unbalanced companion had given Hinata, but curiosity was also a strong factor. They usually didn't bother indulging a prisoner's request unless it was justified.

"Why?" the blonde couldn't help but ask.

"He says he has very important information that he'll deliver only to you."

Naruto frowned, puzzled, but followed the jounin anyway. Why did Juugo want to speak to him?

-xxx-

Juugo paced the cell restlessly...or as restlessly as the chains would allow him to.

His main source of worry was Sakura and what might be happening to her. The fear on her face when the shinobi had hustled her away seemed more than just the usual fear of the law, and something told Juugo that arrest had not been a normal arrest – something had been wrong, had been...off.

He had no basis for his suspicion, but he didn't want to take the chance. So he'd waited until the guard changed – something told him not to trust the silent watcher who had seen them drag Sakura away and not said a word of protest or censure – and then asked to speak to Naruto. He'd been as deferential as possible, and had been sure to say he had information that he would only deliver to the ninja he had requested.

He hadn't known if the guard would be moved by his pleas, but as interrogation and torture was a messy and protracted business, he guessed they'd latch onto the possibility of saving themselves a little work by simply getting the person he'd asked for.

Because he had to tell Naruto about Sakura's arrest, and he wouldn't trust this to a messenger nor trust anyone else to do something about it. Perhaps the silver-haired man she'd been speaking to, or the man who looked remarkably similar to Sasuke...but something told him Naruto would be more willing to listen to him.

Maybe dragging a prisoner off in chains and with a syringe in hand was just standard procedure in Konoha, maybe the other blonde already knew about it and was taking steps to help her...but Juugo didn't want to take the chance.

-xxx-

Sakura had the idea that she was underwater, or at least buried beneath several layers of cotton wool. Sounds were blurred and fuzzy, and her body wasn't moving the way it was meant to. In fact, she didn't think it was moving at all.

Her eyelids seemed welded together, and Sakura felt as though she was using every ounce of her superhuman strength to part them.

Her vision was blurry – not the usual blurry when her eyes were watering and everything just looked a little fuzzy, but the kind of blurry when all she could distinguish was indistinct blobs of colour, none of which resolved themselves into any kind of recognisable shape.

Her back was cold, and Sakura slowly came to the realisation that she must be lying on stone or metal of some kind. And she also thought she was moving...but how could stone or metal move?

Sakura thought there were people around her, because she heard voices. She couldn't make out what was being said, because they seemed to be talking much, much faster than her brain could process it. By the time she'd interpreted the first syllable they had finished talking, and another was already replying to whatever the first had said.

She felt a sharp prick in the crook of her elbow, and she slipped back into the mire she'd briefly arisen from.

-xxx-

"I've checked her house, I've checked Ino's house, I covered every inch of the hospital, I traversed the village while constantly scanning for her chakra...and I found nothing."

Tsunade could hear the self-loathing in Kakashi's voice easily – it echoed the feelings coiling in her gut.

Sakura had, to all intents and purposes, simply disappeared from Konoha. She had been talking to Ino, had spoken to Tsunade about treating Juugo, left the Hokage's office to inform the blonde of the good news...

And it seemed no one had seen her after that. When Sakura had been conspicuously absent from court, Tsunade had sought out the guard on the cells at the time, but he said that he'd seen her leave after speaking with Juugo...

So what had happened afterwards?

"Granny!" came Naruto's shriek from the hall.

The door flew open and banged into the wall so hard it nearly put a hole through the plaster.

Naruto's eyes were wild, and Tsunade's first thought was that he must have heard about Sakura's disappearance.

"They arrested her! They arrested Sakura!" the blonde man spat, and Tsunade realised that, whatever he'd heard, he obviously knew more than they did.

"Say that again," she snapped, in the low, intense tone that had cowed more than one politician.

"They arrested her – Juugo told me! Said she was talking to him about treatment, and then these ANBU just walked up and shackled her and dragged her off and they didn't even say what they were arresting her for and he said he noticed one of them was holding a syringe and they can't be allowed to do that-!"

"Quiet!" Tsunade hissed, wanting to cut his ranting short while she processed what he'd blurted out.

When she had, her first thought was that she was going to make the guard that had told her Sakura had left the cell block very, very sorry. Her next thought was that someone on the council was going to pay for this.

The fact that she'd been taken away by ANBU seemed to indicate a formal – if rather unorthodox – arrest, and an arrest warrant had to be issued either by herself or a member of the council. They were authorised to issue warrants because they dealt with civilian infractions, while shinobi law had always been left in the Hokage's hands.

Always been, until today. And Tsunade's third thought was that she'd have a clause attached to their authority from now on – something about their power only transferring to ninja matters if she was incapacitated or dead.

Tsunade knew there was another possibility: that enemies had somehow managed to enter the village disguised as ANBU and had abducted Sakura, but that was the absolute worst case scenario, and the guard lying seemed to indicate an inside job.

"Naruto," she began, her voice sounding strangely tight. "Find Kiba and Akamaru, and have them track Sakura's scent from Juugo's cell. Kakashi, check the arrest warrants issued in the past twenty-four hours for Sakura's name, and when you're done, get Sasuke up here. Whatever you have to make up – another preliminary hearing, new evidence, I don't care, just get him here. And you, too, Naruto, I expect your report on Sakura's trail yesterday."

Naruto nodded, already spinning on his heel and running for the door, when Tsunade's voice snapped out like a whip.

"But do not follow it beyond Konoha's gates. If Sakura's track goes beyond the gates, you will inform me of that immediately, and I will assemble a team to deal with it."

Naruto hesitated, then nodded once before shooting out of the door like a frightened gazelle.

In spite of his apparent agreement, Tsunade couldn't help but wonder if he would actually follow the order. If Sakura's trail did indeed lead out of Konoha, then she could easily picture Kiba and Akamaru coming back to tell her that Naruto struck out on his own.

But hopefully, they wouldn't have to test it.

Kakashi left almost as quickly, and Tsunade was left with the task she'd wanted to save for herself – that of tracking that guard down and showing him why he should never lie to his Hokage.

-xxx-

Sasuke was sitting in his cell, under Sai's watch, unable to help wondering what witness hadn't appeared and why. He assumed Kakashi hadn't returned because he was still looking for them.

The fact that Kakashi had been gone so long suggested an escape, and Sasuke was still pondering between Suigetsu and Karin, wondering which one of them would have been bored and reckless enough to actually attempt one.

He doubted they'd actually get beyond the village...but then again, you never knew. The Sound Four had gotten into and out of Konoha with little trouble.

He just hoped the trial could be resumed quickly, so the whole rigmarole could be over and done with. He had no idea exactly what was going to happen to him, but he didn't think he'd be executed.

In the trial today, it had taken all of his strength not to throw himself at those three council members. But if he could face Itachi, cool and unmoved despite the fact he'd thought he'd raped Sakura, then he could certainly get through his trial without attacking the council members, right?

Sasuke's keen ears picked up a small commotion somewhere above them – he could make out a lot of raised, indignant-sounding voices, but he couldn't hear what they were actually saying.

But he noticed when the door at the end of the hall clanged, and Kakashi stepped in, his visible eye flinty, a set of keys dangling from his hand.

"Sakura's been arrested," he said, without preamble.

Sasuke's whole body went icy cold, and then just as abruptly turned into an inferno of fury.

"You said they wouldn't hold her responsible!" he snarled at Kakashi.

"They can't," he said flatly. "This is something else. But we can't talk here – I'm taking you to the Hokage's office."

"What was she arrested for?" Sai asked, his tone mild, but the other men didn't miss the way his hands had curled loosely into fists. Kakashi knew that, coming from Sai, that was a borderline tantrum.

And he couldn't help feeling a smidgen of pride. Sai was getting better at actually channeling his emotions instead of shutting them down, and Kakashi had feeling he had his former students to thank for that – Naruto and Sakura were some of the most emotional ninja he'd ever met, and he doubted anyone could maintain a calm, unaffected facade after a few months of being their teammate.

It was also testament to Sai's courage, that he was willing to go against so many years of emotional repression.

But he didn't answer Sai's question, choosing instead to unlock the door. "Let's just get to Lady Tsunade's office – everything will be explained there."

-xxx-

"_The mind determines what is possible. The heart surpasses it."_

_- Pilar Colinta _

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye for beta-ing, as always!_


	24. Conspiracy

**Chapter 24**

**Conspiracy**

"_When the conspiracy of lies surrounding me demands of me to silence the one word of truth given to me, that word becomes the one word I wish to utter above all others."_

_-Andre P. Brink_

-xxx-

Sasuke strode into the Hokage's office, Sai and Kakashi a few steps behind him. Tsunade was scanning a piece of paper, looking grim, while Naruto was sitting sullenly in a chair, his shoulders hunched, his whole body tense. Yamato was leaning against a wall, his arms crossed defensively, his eyes narrowed.

Kakashi shut the door behind them with a snap. "I've brought him – what do we know so far?"

"That Danzo issued a warrant for Sakura's arrest on suspicion of conspiracy against the council," Tsunade began, ignoring the way Sasuke's lip curled at the information, like a vicious dog preparing to attack. "That warrant was carried out, probably by Root members, and Sakura was taken to the interrogation building."

At least, that's where the scent trail had ended. Interrogation could only be entered via a permit, and neither Kiba nor Naruto possessed one. The Inuzuka – before Tsunade had ordered him to leave and tell the others (she wasn't trusting this to a message) – had jokingly demanded extra pay for managing to hold Naruto back from storming the building.

"The guard on the cells when she was arrested lied about the arrest, and he's a suspected Root member. We have no hard evidence, but we're certain this is a set-up," the Hokage continued. "Danzo signed this warrant – he claims that he's received intelligence that indicates Sakura was conspiring against the council with you, Sasuke."

"Which says set-up," Kakashi said. "If he received information that she's conspiring with you, why didn't he have you charged as well?"

"But he's already on trial, isn't he?" Naruto asked.

"He is," Kakashi agreed. "On the charge of deserting the village. He can still be charged with conspiracy against Konoha, but it hasn't been done. He hasn't even been dragged to interrogation on suspicion of it."

"Therefore, it's Sakura they want," Tsunade said tersely.

She let that soak in for a moment, before she went on, her tone much more pensive, voicing conclusions that were still half-forming in her mind. "The guard lied. That was unnecessary – if they wanted Sakura arrested, there was no need to hide it. In fact, hiding it makes it seem underhanded, sordid...suspicious. So the guard would only have been instructed to lie if-"

"If they had no intention of letting news of the arrest get out." Yamato completed her sentence, his voice low and deadly, his mind connecting the dots. "They don't want Sakura arrested – they want her dead. If we hadn't found out about the arrest, they'd have interrogated her, killed her, probably incinerated the body and dumped the ashes in the river. They might have been planning to put out a story about her turning missing-nin or something. The arrest was a contingency plan – a way of legitimizing it if it was discovered."

"But...why would they interrogate her in the first place?" Naruto asked, his voice subdued. "I mean, if they're planning to...to..." he swallowed hard, then went on, "...to kill her, then they must know that the stuff about conspiring against Konoha is fake, right?"

"One would think so," Tsunade sighed. "Perhaps they believe she may have useful information on the Akatsuki that they want to extract from her before..."

She faltered. She and the others had been trying to look at this objectively, to think of this as just another mission, another problem to solve...

But it was becoming harder and harder to remain detached from her apprentice's possible death and torture.

Sasuke saw Tsunade pale, and felt a dash of sympathy – he felt rather sick himself. He knew that interrogation was part of a ninja village – an unpleasant part, but one vital to the village, nonetheless – but the idea of someone trying to make Sakura scream, trying to make her bleed, trying to break her, left him with the urge to both be physically ill and to tear that faceless 'someone' apart.

"They must want her dead very badly...and very quickly," Yamato said slowly, striving for detachment. "They grabbed her too quickly – there was witness, for god's sake! Yes, a prisoner and a witness not likely to be considered credible...but still a witness. And she was serving as a witness in Sasuke's trial – they had to know she'd be missed very, very soon..."

"Unless their goal was to have her in custody before she had a chance to testify," Kakashi deduced. "Unless they thought she was going to say something at the trial that they didn't want her to say."

Naruto privately wished the three older ninja would stop finishing each other's sentences. It made an already disturbing conversation that much creepier.

"The massacre," Sasuke said quietly.

When everyone turned to him, he met only Tsunade's eyes. "You know it explains everything."

Tsunade sighed, barely listening to Naruto filling Yamato in on the story of the council's supposed involvement in the Uchiha massacre. She hadn't wanted to believe it – in spite of her distrust of them, and Danzo's questionable actions with Root...she still hadn't wanted to believe they'd be so heinous.

But it seemed they had been, because it was the only explanation that made sense. Why try to remove Sakura so quickly, so sloppily (for ninja) unless they had a secret they wanted to protect? A secret they couldn't afford to let get out, and one that they believed was certain to come out at Sasuke's trial?

Why do all this...unless what Madara had told Sasuke and Sakura was true?

"There'll be no trial," Kakashi concluded grimly. "She'll be quietly assassinated. The only reason she's still alive is because Lady Tsunade made some noise about finding the arrest warrant and the guard who lied – we caught on too quickly, and if she dies right away, anyone with even half a brain thinks 'conspiracy'. They want something that can still leave them unstained in the eye of the general public."

Kakashi had a brief moment to wonder about the fate of that guard, and if there had been an intact bone in his body after Tsunade had finished with him.

Yamato thought on what the silver-haired man had said for a moment. "They'll probably keep her alive for a day or two, interrogate her on...whatever they were intending to interrogate her on, and then kill her. There'll be a cover story for it – that she had an unanticipated allergic reaction to a drug or something, but it will happen. And it will happen soon."

"Then we've got to do something about it!" Naruto proclaimed, practically leaping from his chair.

"Legally, there's nothing we can do," Tsunade admitted. "Since she hasn't actually been charged and found guilty, I can't pardon her. And pardon is the only action that would be effective immediately – if we go through the legal rigmarole of getting her out of interrogation, they'll have plenty of warning...and Sakura will probably be dead before we get anywhere near her."

"_That's crap!_" Naruto bellowed.

"She said 'legally'," Sai said quietly.

Sasuke turned to him – he'd nearly forgotten the dark-haired boy was there. He'd been completely silent for the duration of the meeting thus far, and Sasuke suddenly realised that was probably what Sai did – stay quiet, absorb all the information, and only then would he act on it.

"That's right," Tsunade nodded. "Legally, we can't do a thing. _Legally_."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Oh."

He sat back down.

"One thing I don't get, though," Kakashi said slowly, "is how Danzo was even aware Sakura knew the truth about the massacre. She and Sasuke only told me, Naruto, Sai and Lady Tsunade. And since I don't think any of us were inclined to blab-"

"We didn't say anything!" Naruto defended loudly.

"-that suggests an outside source," Kakashi finished, ignoring the interruption. "Sasuke...is there any way any of your team could have learned about the massacre? And would they have betrayed Sakura?"

A sinking feeling in his gut told Sasuke exactly who had engineered this drama. "It's Madara."

Tsunade's gaze sharpened. "Are you sure?"

Sasuke nodded jerkily. "Hebi weren't in a position to hear Madara's information, and neither I nor Sakura spoke of it to them. And even if they had somehow learned of it...they wouldn't have done this."

"Why not?" Yamato asked, his voice hard. "You picked these people up in Sound – a place that's hardly known for honourable ninja."

"I made Karin understand that I would not tolerate attacks on Sakura, and she would not go against me so blatantly," Sasuke said honestly. Karin's infatuation meant she wouldn't risk an action so certain to turn him against her.

"What about the others? Suigetsu and Juugo?" Tsunade pointed out. "Juugo made us aware of this, yes, but that doesn't preclude involvement..."

Sasuke snorted. "Juugo would slit his own throat before he went against Sakura. And Suigetsu has too much fun flirting with her."

He didn't realise how that had sounded until Naruto laughed. It was a tight, tense laugh – more to try to take the blonde's mind off the situation than from any real amusement – but it was a laugh nonetheless. "Sasuke's jealous!"

"Shut up, idiot," he hissed.

"He is, he's jealous!"

"Shut up, both of you!" Tsunade barked. "Sasuke, are you sure it can't be anyone but Madara?"

Sasuke nodded, and had to make a conscious effort not to grind his teeth.

"Do you have any idea why he'd go through all this effort to get at Sakura?" Kakashi queried.

Sasuke opened his mouth to say he didn't, but Kakashi's question seemed to prompt the jigsaw pieces to slot together.

And Sasuke remembered Sakura telling him that she thought Madara meant to use him in some kind of plan. Remembered Madara's resentment of her, remembered the way he, Sasuke, had acted with her around the other Uchiha...

"_Touch her and I'll kill you!"_

He'd practically spelled out how much she meant to him, all but told Madara that here was someone he could be hurt through, could be manipulated through...

_'And,'_ Sasuke suddenly thought with a thrill of horror, _'I don't know where Madara transported himself to when he left.'_

If he'd known that Sasuke was about to go along with his plans, and then seen Sakura convince him otherwise...

Sasuke was suddenly understanding exactly why Madara had bothered to implement such an intricate plan. "It's revenge."

"What was that?" Kakashi's voice was sharp. "Did you say it was revenge?"

"Sakura theorised that Madara told us about the Uchiha massacre because he wanted to persuade me to join the Akatsuki," Sasuke explained, trying to keep his voice calm. "And at first I...I wanted to move against Konoha as a whole."

He ignored the tension that suddenly descended on the room.

"Sakura convinced me otherwise. If Madara was observing us somehow..."

Sasuke didn't need to finish his sentence. He could see they understood – Madara was trying to engineer Sakura's death as revenge against her, or Sasuke, or even both.

"But why do it so elaborately?" Yamato wondered. "If he was observing, then surely he would have had the opportunity to strike out at her before she was back in Konoha? Why not try to kill her then?"

"I told him that I'd kill him if he touched her," Sasuke said bluntly, resolutely staring out of the window and not at anyone else in the room.

"So, either he doesn't want to tangle with you..." Tsunade mused. "Or he's still trying to turn you against Konoha by making the council – and thus, the village – responsible for her death instead of himself."

"_Who cares?_" Naruto nearly shrieked. "We gotta rescue Sakura!"

"_You_ have to rescue Sakura," Tsunade corrected. "I can't be seen as doing anything. I'll make some noise, but no overt moves – let them think they've outmaneuvered me. We know they probably won't kill her immediately; it looks too suspicious. But they might kill her if it looks like I'm too close to getting her freed."

Naruto opened his mouth, probably to ask what they were waiting for, but Tsunade spoke again.

"Kakashi, Naruto, Sai and Sasuke, I cannot make this an order, but I want you to stage a breakout as soon as possible. Get her out of there, and then you, Sasuke, both of you go somewhere safe."

"Why does Sasuke have to hide, too?" Naruto asked.

"Because they may go after him if they can't have Sakura," Tsunade said bluntly. "And Sasuke...take whatever measures you feel necessary to ensure both you and Sakura can eventually come out of hiding."

Sasuke nodded – he understood was Tsunade was saying. She was giving him tacit permission to dispose of the elders while he and Sakura were in hiding. He supposed it made sense – he got what he wanted, she eliminated a threat to the village's stability, with the added bonus of being completely unconnected to it. Sasuke knew that was really why she was granting his request; his faux escape severed the connection between him and Tsunade, meaning that if he was caught, it would appear as though he'd acted alone, and nothing could ever be traced back to the Hokage.

That was the only reason she wasn't ordering Kakashi and perhaps Yamato to take care of the other two while he dealt with one.

"Get going...if you're going to do anything," Tsunade said quietly.

They departed so hastily she heard Naruto yelp as Sasuke stepped on the blonde's heels.

Yamato remained where he was, unsure if he should leave, or if he had some role to play in whatever scenario Tsunade was concocting.

"Yamato...again, this isn't an order," she clarified. "But there is something you could do to help..."

-xxx-

Danzo cursed, resisting the urge to sweep the papers on his desk to the floor.

They had been found out. How, he didn't know, but he intended to discover that information as swiftly as possible.

Just as soon as he determined who – if anyone – Sakura had talked to about the Uchiha massacre. Danzo felt certain she wouldn't have kept it a secret; he needed to find out who she'd told so he could try and attempt some damage control.

He checked the clock. If Root had followed his orders – and they always did – then Sakura wouldn't be emerging from her drugged state for at least another hour or more. Danzo had wanted her incapacitated prior to the interrogation – apart from her phenomenal chakra control and inhuman strength, Sakura was also very intelligent, and Danzo was sure having her conscious for her incarceration would only lead to problems.

He'd been planning to interrogate her much later, when the last of the drug had worn off and she would be fully conscious and fully aware of what was happening. There was little point to torture if the subject was too deeply sunk in a drugged stupor to realise they were being tortured.

But he had no choice – Tsunade knew about the arrest, and Danzo knew she wouldn't let this rest. Even now, she'd be searching for a way to get her apprentice released, whether through legal maneuvering or sheer force. Danzo had to move now.

-xxx-

"Now remember, this isn't an order...it can't be an order," Yamato reminded everyone. "You have no obligation to do this."

"We heard you the first time," Ino said, waving her hand dismissively. "Move back – we're working here!"

She and Shikamaru were leaning over a small pot set on the kitchen table in her apartment, with a variety of bottles and cans spread over the table and floor.

"Shikamaru, hand me the paint thinner."

"Paint thinner!" came Kiba's yell from behind the closed kitchen door. "Are you trying to kill us?"

"Don't be such a baby," Ino muttered, taking the can Shikamaru passed her and liberally dousing the mixture with it.

Kiba had come to them twenty minutes ago, saying that Sakura had been dragged into interrogation and that there was some kind of conspiracy going on. Yamato had arrived shortly afterwards with more details and a plan concocted by Tsunade.

A key part of which they were working on now. If Sasuke and Sakura were seen to escape, then the council would want to send Inuzukas to track them...unless the Inuzuka noses were incapacitated.

So Ino and Shikamaru were mixing chemicals designed to irritate the nose, which would hopefully leave the Inuzukas and their dogs unable to track the fugitives. Kiba had been charged with dropping it into his house, in the form of a makeshift bomb.

"Okay, I think it's ready," Ino called, pouring the mixture into a small tin that she sealed tightly.

"Just add this to vaporise it," Shikamaru added, tossing a small vial at Kiba as he cautiously crept into the room.

"You guys so owe me for this," the Inuzuka muttered, tucking the vial in his pocket as Akamaru trotted in and took the can in his mouth. "My family's going to lynch me."

Yet Yamato noted that, in spite of his grumbling, the boy and his dog practically sprinted from the house and down the street.

The ANBU watched him out of sight, then turned to Ino and Shikamaru once more. "Now, we need to find the others."

-xxx-

Danzo strode into the small, windowless room with two of his most loyal Root members at his side.

He couldn't quite smother the sting of bitterness that reminded him it would be Sai beside him...if the boy hadn't been corrupted. He had believed Sai strong enough to stand firm against the strange pull Haruno and Uzumaki seemed to exert, but it seemed he'd underestimated the lengths the teammates would go to in their attempts to subvert Sai's conditioning.

He couldn't say he didn't bear a grudge, but he reined it in – he was here for information, not to feed sadistic impulses.

Sakura was lying on a small metal gurney, an IV taped to her arm, feeding her a steady stream of sedatives to keep her unconscious and unaware of her surroundings. Yet even with the drug, Root had taken precautions – thick leather straps secured her wrists, ankles, shoulders and waist to the gurney.

Danzo gestured, and one of the ninja beside him removed the IV and began unbuckling the straps that held her down. The other left to get the materials they needed.

Within five minutes, Sakura had been propped up in a metal chair used in interrogations, her wrists tied together behind the back of the chair and her ankles to the legs. Her body listed forward alarmingly, and one of Danzo's companions looped a length of rope diagonally across her torso, forcing her lax body to keep an upright position.

Danzo had little medical knowledge, but he hoped Sakura would regain consciousness quickly. Now that they'd stopped the sedative, her body should surely be able to recover rapidly. And the quicker the better – he didn't know how much time they had, but his most generous estimates wouldn't put it beyond a few hours.

Fortunately, the medic began to stir in under three minutes. She blinked slowly, peering at him like a near-sighted grandmother, her eyes distant and unfocused, and Danzo could tell that the drug was still clouding her mind.

But he had to begin. "Haruno Sakura, who, if anyone, have you informed about the council's role in the Uchiha massacre?"

She didn't respond. Danzo wasn't sure if that was because she hadn't registered the question or she was refusing to relinquish the information, but he couldn't take the chance that it was the latter.

He nodded at the ninja standing beside her. The Root member reached behind Sakura, finding her ring finger...

Danzo knew it was all for information, but he couldn't deny that he felt a certain sense of satisfaction at the shriek of pain that rang through the cell when the ninja broke Sakura's finger.

-xxx-

Sasuke had been liberated from the shackles as soon as they'd left the Hokage's office. Kakashi had unlocked them, leaving them resting against his skin but not actually restraining him, with the instructions to make it appear as if he was still manacled, at least until they could slip away.

All four of them vanished into the shadows as they passed the interrogation building – when Sasuke didn't return to his cell, there would be a search, but as Tsunade could honestly say he'd left her office in chains, nothing could ever be connected to her.

Sasuke might have felt a little irritated at being used like this, but a cautious Hokage was a Hokage who kept herself – and everyone under her – alive. And if it got Sakura out, Sasuke wasn't going to complain.

"Now, we need to be very, very quick about this. And very, very subtle," Kakashi said quietly, as Naruto and Sai handed some of their kunai and shuriken to Sasuke.

Tsunade hadn't actually put anyone in charge – that would have been too much like admitting this was an actual mission – but Sai, Naruto and Sasuke had automatically deferred to Kakashi, the one with the most experience in situations like this.

"Sai and I are ANBU – we have permission to enter interrogation. We can claim that we've been given orders to interrogate Sasuke, and Naruto...we can say the Hokage is looking into making you one of the interrogation officers."

Sasuke didn't know if anyone would believe that, but it was unlikely anyone would question Kakashi.

"We can't go in all at once – that'd look too suspicious. Sai, you take Sasuke in, and I'll take Naruto in a few minutes later."

Sai nodded, understanding the reasoning behind the order. No one would believe that Kakashi would take his former student to interrogation, or that Naruto would calmly allow Sasuke to go.

"Once you're in, go to the deepest level – that's the level where they hold the most powerful shinobi, with the most sensitive information, and the one they're most likely to put Sakura in."

"Do you..." Naruto's voice failed, so he swallowed hard and tried again. "Do you think they've...done anything to her?"

Kakashi was silent, and Sasuke's stomach tumbled like an acrobat. He'd been doing his best not to think about what Sakura being held in interrogation actually meant, and he didn't want to dwell on what could be happening to her.

And he assumed Kakashi felt the same when the older man said, "Let's just focus on getting her out of there."

-xxx-

Everything was very blurry, but not the pleasant sort of blurry it had been earlier. This haze was tinged with pain, with hard cruel voices and a sense of dread. Sakura wasn't quite sure what was going on – her mind was working on a level below that of normal consciousness – but she knew that something wasn't right.

Her hand was throbbing, starbursts of agony rocketing up and down her arm, but the pain was clearing her head. Sakura blinked blearily, her foggy brain clarifying enough for her to register that Danzo was standing in front of her, she was bound to a metal chair in a stone room, two masked shinobi were on either side of her...and three fingers on her left hand were broken.

She had been aware that someone was talking, but only now did she realise it was Danzo.

And only now did she actually realise what he was saying.

"Who have you told?"

At first, Sakura didn't know what he was talking about...then her fogged brain made the connection between what she knew and information Danzo didn't want made public. The Uchiha massacre.

When she said nothing, Danzo nodded at one of the ninjas, and the shinobi reached for her hand. Sakura couldn't help the whimper that broke from her throat when he took a grip on her index, a grip that shifted her other fingers until she could feel the broken bones grinding against each other.

Apparently realising that here was another avenue of attack, the shinobi shifted his hand to wrap around her shattered fingers, squeezing tightly and sending waves of agony pouring up Sakura's arm. She screamed...

And then it stopped.

Because the door had been blown open in a blast of crackling electricity and the sound of chirruping birds. Sakura had barely registered that fact before two figures – silhouetted by the bright light from the hallway – advanced into the room in blurs of motion.

Sasuke knew that this could have been done much better. The plan had been for Sai to transform himself, call one of the Root away and then take the other ninja on (two against one made for much swifter fights than one on one, and Sasuke didn't think they had much to worry about from Danzo – he had to be pushing sixty...)...but then Sasuke had heard Sakura scream, and all bets were off.

His Chidori had made short work of the metal door barring their way, and the Uchiha had flown at the ninja standing behind the pink-haired medic while Sai launched himself at the one standing impassively beside them.

Root members were very, very skilled...but Sasuke was very, very fast and very, very angry, and he was on the ninja before the other man had even drawn a weapon.

The first blow dazed him. The second stunned him. The third knocked him out.

The fourth blow was rather unnecessary, but it made Sasuke feel better.

He cast the unconscious body aside and went to Sakura's aide, already drawing a kunai to cut her bonds, but his hand stuttered in mid-air when he saw the mangled mess that was her fingers – apparently, the Root member had been snapping them one by one.

Sasuke was gripped by the urge to go over and break a few of that shinobi's fingers, but restrained himself, instead slicing her bonds apart with as much gentleness as possible, trying not to jar her injuries. He was dimly aware of Sai facing down Danzo, keeping him at a distance by brandishing the long blade all ANBU received, the other Root member long since taken care of, but he was too busy working on untying Sakura to really pay attention. As long as Danzo kept his distance and neither of the Root members revived, he didn't care what Sai did with them.

Sai, for his part, couldn't quite credit what he was doing. Wasn't it only a few months ago that he'd considered this man Konoha's only hope? That he'd done everything he ordered without question? And now he was standing in front of Danzo with his sword drawn, perfectly willing to cut him down if he made another move towards Sakura. In fact, when Sai remembered the screams that he and Sasuke had heard, muffled behind that big metal door, he found himself wanting to cut Danzo down anyway, regardless of how much of a threat he represented.

A shaky noise of pain rose from behind him, and the urge grew in strength. He wouldn't risk taking his eyes off Danzo, but he called out to Sasuke.

"Is she alright?"

"Three broken fingers," came the answer, the Uchiha's fury colouring his tone. "And I think they've drugged her."

The muscles in Sai's fingers twitched, wanting to move, to drive the sword through Danzo's chest. The man standing just in front of him was perfectly calm, perfectly expressionless and completely silent, as though what was going on had nothing to do with him.

Sasuke drew level with Sai, allowing the former Root to catch a glimpse of Sakura out of the corner of his eye.

And in that instant, he understood why Sasuke hadn't been able to conceal his fury.

Sakura was resting limply in the Sasuke's arms, her head lolling against his collarbone. Her eyes were open, but they were hazed and unfocused, as though she was staring at something a long distance away that only she could see. Her left hand was resting on her stomach, three fingers bent and twisted – only her index finger and thumb were intact.

"Sssaasssuke?" she slurred, apparently only just registering who was holding her.

"What did you give her?" Sasuke asked Danzo, his voice deceptively calm.

Danzo didn't say a word.

"The only reason you are still alive is because I'd like to know exactly what you used on her," Sasuke said grimly. "But I can just as easily get the information elsewhere."

Sasuke would bet that they'd given Sakura a general sedative – something to keep her unconscious and out of trouble while they transported and secured her. And even if it was something different, he was certain Tsunade would know what it was.

Frankly, any motives for keeping Danzo breathing were evaporating by the second.

Danzo simply stared at him. "You've fallen to a new low, Uchiha. Kill me, and you'll be hounded from this village, hunted forever as a traitor."

Sasuke smirked, his eyes like frost-covered obsidian. "I don't think so."

And then his foot lashed out. Danzo had been a ninja once, but it had been a long time since he'd been on active duty; he was old now, his reflexes dulled with the weight of time.

So, while even many genin ninja could have dodged Sasuke's blow – hampered as he was by Sakura's weight in his arms – Danzo couldn't react in time. The Uchiha's foot connected the councilor's throat, at the right angle and with enough force to snap his neck.

A loud, popping crunch of bone echoed through the room, and Danzo collapsed.

Sai was surprised at how little the man's death mattered to him. This was the man who had trained him, mentored him...shouldn't he be feeling something?

But there was only dim regret, smothered by relief at finding Sakura alive. For better or for worse, Sai had chosen his allegiance.

There was a loud commotion in the hallway, and Naruto and Kakashi appeared, stepping through the destroyed doorway.

"You guys didn't leave anything for me?" Naruto exclaimed, looking indignant, but his expression softened into concern when he noticed Sakura lying limply in Sasuke's arms. "Is she alright?"

"They broke her fingers," Sasuke spat. "And drugged her with something."

The blonde moved to the woman in Sasuke's arms, touching her cheek comfortingly, brushing her hair away from her eyes as Kakashi examined her broken fingers.

"Naruto?" Sakura murmured. "Kakashi?"

Her mind was still rather slow, but she could have sworn only two people came through that door, Sasuke and...Sai!

Sakura hadn't really been aware of the fight going on around her, but she had dimly registered Sai standing between her and Danzo. Her mind was rather one-track at the moment, and all she could comprehend was that if she'd seen Sai facing off Danzo, and now she didn't see him, there had to be something wrong.

"_Sai!_" she choked out. "Where...Sai?"

Sai blinked. He'd been watching the reunion from afar, feeling somehow lonely even though there were four other people in the room with him, and then angry that he felt lonely.

In Sakura's drugged state, he hadn't expected her to be aware of his presence, much less ask after him.

"I'm here," he said, moving to her side.

Sakura blinked at him, raising her uninjured hand to shakily pat his cheek, as though to confirm he was real. "Oh...good..."

"What were you so worried about, anyways?" Naruto wondered. "You yelped like you thought he was dead or something."

"Saw him...and Da-Danzo..." Sakura said, striving for clarity and coherency. "Then...didn't see him...thou-thought...hurt..."

She blinked again. "My tongue...dun't work..."

"Don't worry," Kakashi said, automatically moving to soothe at the distressed tone Sakura's voice had taken. "We're getting you out of here."

Sakura's smile had a slightly loopy quality to it. "You guys...so great! My four most...most fav-favouritest guys in...in the whole world! Even 'f you are...obse-obsessed with ramen...'n perverted...'n mono-monosyll-abic...'n socially clu-clueless..."

She trailed off into vague mumblings.

"Her coherency seems to vary, doesn't it?" Sai mused.

"I think the drug's wearing off," Kakashi assessed as they left the interrogation room. "So her level of consciousness might fluctuate a bit."

Naruto watched as Sakura suddenly burst out giggling for no apparent reason – the sort of giggles you usually didn't find people with three broken fingers making. "That's why she's acting so...happy?"

"A lot of ninja sedatives also trigger endorphins – the hormone that makes you happy," Kakashi explained. "The sedative is the main component, but when it starts to weaken the endorphins ensure the shinobi doesn't come out swinging. It's sort of a buffer, a warning as to when it's wearing off. Danzo must have been very desperate if he was interrogating her now."

Sasuke nodded, glancing down at Sakura's blithe smile. At least she didn't seem to be feeling the pain of her shattered fingers.

But her mind seemed to have latched onto the word 'interrogation', and – apparently trying to be helpful – she blurted, "He wanted...wanted to know who I'd told...about the massa-massacre..."

The four males exchanged brief glances, and Sasuke felt a chill twist in his gut. Danzo had tortured Sakura to determine if he had to silence anyone else – this was absolute, concrete proof that the council had conspired against the village.

The Uchiha followed Kakashi to the end of the hallway, watched the silver-haired man open the door, and then nearly jumped in shock.

Because behind that doorway...was himself. In fact, there were four Sasukes crowded into the stairwell, accompanied by three Sakuras, Hinata, and Yamato.

"This was my part of the plan," Yamato smirked. "We'll be laying some false trails."

"Sakura!" one of the Sasuke look-alikes gasped theatrically. "What happened to you, my flower?"

Naruto couldn't help it. In spite of the gravity of the situation, hearing Lee's speech in Sasuke's voice and with Sasuke's face was too much for him; he burst into laughter that echoed up the stairwell.

"Be quiet!" Kakashi's voice was low but intense. "This needs to work, and that means not letting the guards up above know what we're doing!"

Naruto subsided, biting his lip in an effort to hold in his amusement.

"Hinata...did they hear anything?" Yamato asked.

Sasuke became aware that Hinata's Byakugan had been activated, and her eyes were focused on the ceiling. Apparently she was serving as lookout – monitoring the guards just in case.

"They haven't m-moved," she reported.

"How did you get in here?" Sai asked curiously. "Wouldn't the guards have suspected something?"

"They transformed themselves into a gaggle of random shinobi that I was leading to interrogation," Yamato explained. "They pretended to be rather low-grade, and acted as though they were under sedatives."

Sasuke relaxed marginally. At least they wouldn't have to worry about the guards coming in to check on them – no one inquired about the fate of a prisoner once they'd been led off to interrogation.

"Okay, Naruto and I need to be seen to leave a lot later than we entered," Kakashi instructed. "So we need to linger for a little while. Sai – you need to leave now, make it look as though you just dropped Sasuke off, and are having nothing to do with his interrogation."

Sai nodded, and began to climb the stairs.

"I'll need to wait a little longer," Yamato said, anticipating Kakashi's orders. "So it will seem as though I placed each of my prisoners in a different cell."

Kakashi nodded. "You can deal with Danzo's body and the unconscious Roots. Everyone else, get in your pairs and imitate Sasuke and Sakura. Hinata – you can transform now."

Hinata's hands flew through several seals, and she shaped herself into a perfect replica of Sakura in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke watched, a little uncomfortably, as his doppelgangers scooped their assigned Sakura look-alike into their arms, shifting their positions around until they mimicked the ones the originals held. At least, he assumed they were mimicking his and Sakura's position...but did they really look like that? Was he really holding her so close? So protectively?

He glanced down and realised that yes, he was. Sakura's head was turned into his chest, and her right hand was twisted in his shirt, crumpling the material.

"Shikamaru and Ino, you head north. Neji and Tenten, south. Lee and Chouji, east. Shino and Hinata, west. Just make sure you get beyond the boundaries of the village – we need people to witness your departure, and to think that Sasuke and Sakura have left Konoha, is that clear?"

All the duplicates nodded, then transported themselves away and out of the building.

Sasuke assumed that was why the meeting had been held in the stairwell. The cells and corridors in interrogation had seals on them that prevented shinobi from transporting either into or out of them. But the stairs weren't sealed – a precaution ensuring that if the building itself was attacked, the shinobi inside could get out relatively quickly.

"Sasuke..." Kakashi hesitated for a moment, then said, "Stay in the village, but take her somewhere safe."

Sasuke nodded, juggling Sakura in his arms (trying not to jar her injured hand) until his hands could meet and he could form the necessary seals. He knew where he could take her.

The Uchiha district had a lot of hidden meeting places.

-xxx-

"_You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving."_

_-Ami Carmichael_

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye for beta-ing!_


	25. Bastion

**Chapter 25**

**Bastion**

"_A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love."_

_-Stendhal_

-xxx-

Neji sighed – he had known transforming into Sasuke and trying to move out of the village would be difficult, but he hadn't expected it to be this difficult.

He and Tenten were currently being pursued by four chunins, and he was struggling to keep enough distance between them and him so that they wouldn't notice when he and Tenten dropped the transformation and turned back.

"This would be so much easier if I could actually do something..." Tenten muttered against his chest.

"You're drugged, remember?"

"I know, I know – it just sucks, that's all!"

Neji continued running in silence for a few moments – well, silence excepting the shouts of their pursuers.

"You really think this will work?" Tenten asked as Neji leapt over the wall.

"They'll suspect decoys," Neji admitted. "But they'll assume that Sakura and Sasuke will have left the village, so they'll concentrate their search on the surrounding country."

"Right...so how far do we – well, you – need to run?" Tenten inquired. "A mile or so should be enough."

"We'll do two miles to be safe."

Tenten nodded, then sighed at the sound of pursuit as their followers mounted the wall.

She would have felt so much better about this if she'd been allowed to throw shuriken.

-xxx-

Shikamaru glanced down at the woman in his arms. Even taking into consideration the fact that Ino was pretending to be a drugged Sakura, she'd been eerily quiet. He'd have expected a threat about not dropping her at the very least.

The reason for her silence was revealed when they hopped over the wall. Ino cleared her throat, then asked in a small voice, "Do you think she'll be okay?"

Shikamaru didn't need to ask who 'she' was. "I'm sure she'll be fine."

"Her fingers looked pretty bad..."

"But it was just her fingers," Shikamaru reminded her. "I think Sai and Sasuke got there before any permanent damage was done."

Something told him if there any crippling injuries involved, they would have been dealt to Sakura's interrogators. Sasuke struck him as rather unforgiving like that.

"Yeah, Sasuke'll look after her," Ino nodded, then suddenly smirked, as though she knew something he didn't.

Shikamaru's first instinct was to ask her exactly why she looked so smug, but long experience with Ino had told him he was often happier not knowing.

"Hey, Shikamaru, you better not drop me."

"Troublesome woman..."

-xxx-

"D-Do you think Ki-Kiba will be alright?" Hinata wondered as she and Shino made their way through the forest.

She'd heard about the mixture Kiba had 'accidentally' dropped in his family's dining room, in the middle of a clan meeting. Now every Inuzuka and their dog was in the hospital, knocked out by sudden, potent blow to their olfactory senses.

"He'll wake up in a few hours," Shino said.

He'd wake up with a hell of a headache and a streaming nose, and his clan would want to skin him alive, but he'd recover in a few days.

-xxx-

"You know, the fact that you powered out of the village in under three seconds probably just convinced them you're not Sasuke," Chouji commented, releasing the transformation with a certain sense of relief.

He had been holding the jutsu for both of them, since Lee had so much difficulty performing ninjutsu. And he hadn't really been comfortable pretending to be girl, let alone a girl he actually knew.

"Nonsense," Lee huffed. "Naruto reported that Sasuke had greatly increased in speed during those years he was with Orochimaru – I believe my speed made us the most believable duplicates, thanks also to your fine transformation!"

Chouji nodded absently as they made their way back to the village, already feeling a craving for some barbecue chips and automatically tuning out Lee's tangential proclamations of how glad he was that Sakura was alright.

-xxx-

"How come...it's night?" Sakura wondered, her head lolling.

Sasuke glanced at her, but could see nothing in the pitch-black of the Uchiha clan's secret meeting place. She didn't seem aware of the fact that they were underground, but then again, seeing as he had transported them here, he supposed there wasn't a reason she would be.

Sasuke carefully set Sakura on the floor, absently noting the layer of dust that coated it, beginning to wonder if this plan was entirely thought through. If Sakura was going to stay hidden here while he dealt with the council members then she needed to be comfortable, and there wouldn't be anything in the Uchiha district that was in any state of repair. Sure, it had been cleaned and repaired after the massacre, and he'd been here a few times before he left to join Orochimaru – mostly to roam the streets and brood – but that had been years ago.

Sasuke suddenly stiffened as he sensed a chakra spike in the Uchiha district. Not liking the idea of leaving Sakura, but needing to address a possible threat, he performed a quick transformation to give himself blonde hair, green eyes and a shorter height before he transported to the chakra signature.

And he found himself on the rooftop, in the glaring sunlight, looking down at Sai. The former Root member had a small pack slung over one shoulder, and was glancing around him as though searching for something.

Taking a guess at what he was looking for, Sasuke leapt to the ground in front of him. "It's Sasuke."

Sai, automatically tensing when someone dropped in front of him, relaxed at the Uchiha's words. "Oh, hello, Sasuke."

He gave another of his unsettling smiles. "Lady Tsunade thought it prudent to bring you supplies. And there are some pills to counteract the drug Danzo gave Sakura."

"You didn't call her Ugly," Sasuke noted.

Sai shrugged. "It's less interesting when she's not around to hear."

Sasuke grasped Sai's shoulder and transported them both into the meeting place. He felt Sai twitch at the sudden change from daylight to complete blackness, but he gave no other reaction.

Shinobi were used to working without light, and Sasuke could hear Sai rummaging easily and efficiently in the pack, before he struck a match and lit a small candle.

He placed it on the floor, the light gleaming off the hard, polished stone of the walls, a muted glitter lighting the dust that had gathered on the floor over the years. Sakura blinked in the sudden brightness, her brow creasing in puzzlement as though she wasn't quite sure what was going on.

"Sasuke...my hand hurts..." she whispered, and Sasuke's heart constricted at the confusion and pain in her voice.

"Don't move it," he told her, moving to her side and grasping her left wrist as she tried to lift it off her stomach.

He had to swallow hard as he caught another glimpse of her mangled fingers, twisted and contorted in directions and angles they wouldn't be capable of holding if the bones inside had been intact. He'd done his best not to look at them while they were getting her out of interrogation, not wanting to face the grim reality that he and Sai had been too late, that her torture had already started by the time they'd arrived.

He could take some satisfaction – however dark – from the fact that the man who had given the order to cause her pain was dead.

Danzo was dead. The first of the council members who had ordered the Uchiha massacre.

His family – Itachi included – was one step closer to being avenged. Granted, they still had Madara to deal with even after the council, but Sasuke was willing to be patient with him. After all, it was only a matter of time before Konoha, Suna and whatever other villages wanted to join in banded together to wipe the Akatsuki off the face of the earth, and he would have his chance to deal with Madara.

He became aware that Sai had taken four blankets, several water bottles and a few ration bars from the pack, arranging them neatly on the floor in front of him.

Then he reached into the pack once more, taking out a small pouch, which he upended to tip two pills into his palm.

"You need to take these," Sai told Sakura, offering the pills in one hand and a water bottle in the other. "They will make you feel better."

Sakura grinned, and stretched out her right hand to clumsily grab at the pills. "You're my friend, Sai..."

"Yes I am," Sai said, without the humuorous tone people usually used when talking to someone who was drugged – Sai sounded as though he were simply confirming an observation.

Sakura had some problems coordinating her hand to push the pills in her mouth and then take a drink from the water bottle, but eventually she managed it, and swallowed both pills before lying back down, frowning at her broken fingers.

"It still hurts," she muttered. "You said...it would make it bet-better..."

Sasuke glanced at Sai.

"They're not painkillers," Sai explained, speaking more to Sasuke. "The Hokage said they would snap her out of the drugs enough to let her heal her own fingers...but they take a while to work."

Sasuke nodded absently, rolling up one blanket and tucking it behind Sakura's head to give her a makeshift pillow, and to keep her head off the hard, dusty floor.

She was shaking a little, and Sasuke belatedly realised that the stone walls made the room rather cold, and tucked another blanket around her body, careful to keep her left hand clear.

"Lady Tsunade also said to be careful, and make sure no one recognises you," Sai added. "And that you'll have to move fast – if there's a strike against one of Konoha's council, security on the other council members tightens up."

Sasuke scowled a little. Tsunade wanted him to assasinate the elders now? No laying low for a few days, as the original plan had been? But then again, the original plan hadn't accounted for killing a council member while breaking Sakura out of interrogation.

But...he didn't want to leave Sakura while she was in such a state. Even knowing Sai could look after her did nothing to dampen the need to stay with her, to keep her in his sight, to make sure nothing like this ever happened again...

But cold logic asserted itself, saying that the best way he could ensure it never happened again was to deal with the remaining elders – and do it quickly, before word of Danzo's death spread.

"Will you stay with her?" he asked, his voice low.

Sai nodded, his face more solemn than blank, as though some part of him understood just how hard it was for Sasuke to hand over guardianship of Sakura.

"You may find reinforcements outside the gates," Sai said cryptically, just before Sasuke transported out of the Uchiha clan meeting place.

The Uchiha appeared in the shrine above, pondering Sai's words. Reinforcements? Who?

He transformed himself into an elderly civilian and slowly made his way to the gates of the Uchiha district, a little bewildered when he found two girls, looking to be about ten years old, playing hopscotch.

Then he read their chakra, and realised he was looking at people far more powerful than your usual pre-genin children.

"Are you my reinforcements?" he asked, his voice dubious.

The girls instantly stopped their game, glancing at him. The brunette nodded, ponytail bobbing, while the blonde with the twin plaits scowled.

"You better appreciate this, bastard," she hissed, and Sasuke realised he was looking at a transformed Naruto. "This is the worst disguise ever!"

"One would think you'd be used to it," Sasuke commented. "With that stupid jutsu of yours."

"It's not stupid, asshole, it's pure genius – I'd like to see you come up with something half as good! And it's one thing to be a girl, and another to be a really short kid!"

"Why the disguise?" Sasuke found himself asking. "Surely you can walk around the village without problems?"

He would have understood transforming themselves a few streets away from striking at the council members, but to do it to walk around the village seemed unnecessary.

"Word has already gotten out about you escaping from interrogation with Sakura," the brunette girl said, and Sasuke recognised Kakashi's lazy, almost drawling manner of speech, even if the voice was several octaves higher. "Some of the decoys were spotted going over the wall – which is good because the ANBU will be concentrating their search outside of Konoha – but they're probably going to want to interview us, and we can't afford that kind of delay. Yamato might have disposed of Danzo's body and locked the Root with him in some of the interrogation cells, but it's only a matter of time before they come to. And while people tend to scream a lot in interrogation, if one of the prisoners is shrieking about an attack on a council member, it's only a matter of time before someone listens."

Sasuke nodded, and they slipped away into the village, appearing to be nothing but an old man out with his granddaughters.

"The council members will probably be in court right now," Kakashi said quietly. "Dealing with whatever problems our little civilian population has at the moment. Which is good, because it means we'll have an audience fairly quickly and all we have to do is file into the courthouse. And then, when whatever they're trying is over or a recess is called, we can make our way into their chambers. Naruto and I will deal with any guards."

It was left unspoken that the council members themselves would be left to Sasuke.

-xxx-

Sakura sighed, and resisted the urge to knead her temple with her recently-healed fingers. But she was grappling with a very awkward problem – trying to explain the concept of love to Sai.

A little after she'd 'woken up' – or at least, become aware and coherent again – Sai had given her a condensed version of what had taken place and what Sasuke was doing now, and had then asked her what had made him so eager to go after her when they learned of what Danzo had done, what had made him so furious he found she'd been hurt, and why he hadn't seemed to care when Sasuke killed Danzo.

Sakura had explained that they were friends and therefore loved each other, and so it was distressing to see each other in pain. And when they thought the other might be pain, they were eager to prevent it, and they often wanted to hurt the person who caused it.

"So...you say that I love you..." Sai said slowly.

Sakura nodded, wiggling her repaired fingers to test their flexibility. "Look, Sai...we're friends, right?"

"Yes," Sai confirmed, his voice strong.

"Well, that's a kind of love, you see?"

She could see by Sai's expression that he didn't see at all, but he appeared to be thinking deeply, so Sakura kept her silence and let him work whatever it was out in his head.

"But I don't want to have sex with you," he said at last.

Sakura choked on air, staring at him.

"I was under the impression that when you loved someone, you wanted to have sex with them," Sai continued, obviously puzzled.

Sakura could practically feel her brain trying to crack out of her skull and escape the conversation. Common sense was telling her to just drop the whole subject, but she and Naruto had learned it was far better to fumble through an explanation than let Sai run around with misconceptions and half-formed ideas.

"Well...not exactly...there are different kinds of love..."

"So you say you can love someone without wanting to have sex with them?"

"Yes, yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

Sai frowned. "But you're a girl."

Sakura failed how to see how this impacted the situation in any way. "So?"

"Statistically, there are more heterosexuals than homosexuals in the population, so I am most likely a heterosexual. Therefore, if I am attracted to women, I don't see how I could love you without wanting to have sex with you."

_'There are so many things wrong with that sentence I don't know where to begin,'_ Sakura thought dazedly. "Sai, you...you...you can't decide your sexual orientation based on statistics! You have to make the decision for yourself!"

"Oh."

At Sai's confused expression, Sakura felt a burst of sympathy. In a way, it made sense that he'd be so confused about things like love and sex – she had a feeling that, of all emotions and impulses, Root would have worked on suppressing those the most, as they were the ones most likely to interfere with a shinobi's duties. He'd even referred to his brother as having a 'bond' with him – he hadn't actually called it love.

As Sai's friend, Sakura felt it was her duty to at least try to explain this to him.

No matter how unsettling this conversation seemed or how hard it was to describe something as elemental as sex or love.

"Your sexual orientation is...is..." Sakura screwed up her face as she struggled for a way to explain it to Sai. "Well, look at it this way – think of the people you'd want to have sex with, if given the chance. You know, the people you look at and think they look very pretty."

Sai opened his mouth, and Sakura threw up a hand to forestall anything he might say. "Don't tell me about them!"

Her mind was already having difficulty dealing with 'sex' and 'Sai' in the same sentence. She didn't think it could handle any mental images. Still, on the bright side, this conversation was preparing her for that moment far in the future when she had kids and had to discuss the 'facts of life' with them.

"Look, if the people you thought about were women, then you're heterosexual. If you thought about men, then you're homosexual. If you thought about both men and women, then you're probably bisexual, okay?"

Sai nodded, looking a little more enlightened.

For a dark moment, Sakura wondered just what Root had been doing to him to so completely and utterly suppress all acknowledgement of sexual desires, but soon stopped that train of thought. There was nothing she could do about it now – Danzo was dead, the conditioning was over and done with, and all she and Naruto had been able to do was try to undo some of the damage.

"Now, back to the love-thing," Sakura continued, determinedly bringing them back on topic. "You've seen families, right? Brothers and sisters? Well, we're like that."

"But we aren't related."

"No, but we're a family all the same," Sakura said, smiling slightly to think of their tight-knit, dysfunctional little unit. "Like...like your brother."

She was a little hesitant to bring up the long-dead shinobi, but she couldn't see any other way of making Sai understand.

"Family..." Sai murmured. "And families can't leave each other, right?"

Sakura blinked, a little surprised at this line of questioning. "No, they can't."

"So I can't leave you, and you can't leave me."

"Exactly."

Sai nodded, and there was a sense of satisfaction about him, as though she'd answered a worry that had been plaguing him for some time. "Good."

Sakura glanced at the still-burning candle, noticing that nearly half of its wick had been consumed, and felt the familiar bite of worry deep in her gut.

Sai had told her that the Uchiha had left before she was completely coherent, and that he, Kakashi and Naruto would be dealing with the remaining council members.

Sakura just hoped everything was going to plan.

-xxx-

Naruto had the fleeting thought that it should be nighttime. Or evening, at least. In the movies, the hero never broke up a conspiracy while the sun was shining brightly through the windows.

But Naruto supposed that was the point – this wasn't a movie, and there weren't any completely tainted villains and unstained heroes. After all, a man who'd spent most of his life training to kill his last remaining kin, to the extent of deserting his home and friends, was hardly a typical hero. Just as two elderly people, who had spent most of their lives making decisions for the good of the village as a whole, were hardly your typical villains.

Even Sakura had admitted that the Uchiha were about to plunge Konoha into a civil war that could have annihilated the village if the council hadn't given the order for Itachi to kill them. They had been acting for the ideal of the 'greater good'...and if that were true, how could they punish them – _assassinate_ them – for it?

_'Because the end never justifies the means,'_ Naruto told himself, answering his own question. _'It simply can't. We can't be like that – not within the village. And Sakura said old man Sarutobi had __been trying to find a way to talk to them, but the council just wanted to get rid of them.'_

Naruto blinked when the people around them began filing from the courtroom, startled from his thoughts. His eyes jerked to the two council members, who were making their way from the room with their shinobi protectors, and realised that this was it.

He stood as Sasuke and Kakashi did, slipping through the crowd towards the guarded door, their chakras carefully suppressed, waiting until the last civilian had left the room.

Sasuke had a fleeting thought that, if it was really going to be this easy, why the council members hadn't been assassinated before. Then he remembered that Tsunade also had a hand in this – he wouldn't have been surprised if she'd ordered the guard reduced, and given Homura and Koharu rather incompetent, rookie protectors.

Well, so much the better for them.

"My granddaughters and I want to request an audience of the honoured councilors," Sasuke said, careful to keep his voice reverent and let none of the virulent hatred boiling in his veins leak into his voice.

The shinobi glanced at each other as though unsure of how to proceed, and Sasuke realised that Tsunade had indeed signed green recruits to the protective detail.

But that thought had barely passed through his brain before Kakashi and Naruto had leapt forward, their transformations dispelling, taking advantage of the ninja's moment of inattention.

Kakashi clapped a hand over the kunoichi's mouth and tapped a few nerve points on her neck, sending her reeling into unconsciousness even as he slid backwards to avoid the instinctive swing of her weapon.

The shinobi opposite her fell to the ground with a thud – Naruto hadn't bothered with nerve pinches, and had simply slammed into the man like a freight train, grappling with him for a split-second before he managed to crack the shinobi's head into the wall so hard the man lost consciousness.

And Sasuke slipped through the door, releasing the transformation as he went. He wanted these councilors to know who had come to destroy them.

It was almost laughable how innocuous the room looked, considering that it housed two people who calmly ordered the slaughter of his entire family.

It took a great deal of effort to rein in his anger. But if he'd managed to do it in court and when facing Danzo – who, of all of them, had deserved a painful end – then surely he could manage it now.

But when he had faced Danzo, he'd been more concerned with getting Sakura out then anything else. There had been a grim satisfaction that one of the people who had engineered the slaughter of the clan and forced his brother into such an impossible situation had finally paid for his crimes, yes, but that had taken second place. And in the court, he'd remained calm by telling himself, over and over again, that his time would come.

And now that it was here, he was finding it difficult not to let his fury loose.

Strangely, neither Homura nor Koharu seemed surprised by his appearance – in fact, they looked almost serene.

"I thought you'd be coming by soon," Koharu said simply, leaning back in her chair.

It was only years of practice that made it possible for Sasuke to conceal his shock.

"When Danzo told us what Haruno knew, and what he planned to do about it, I knew it was only a matter of time," she continued.

"You helped him arrest her?" Sasuke asked, a new fury awakening in him.

Homura shook his head. "No – Haruno was a law-abiding citizen of Konoha, there was no reason to arrest her. We acted for the good of the village, and will accept the consequences."

This wasn't quite what Sasuke had been expecting.

"You have never been in a position where thousands of lives weigh on your decision," Koharu sniffed derisively, as though she sensed the Uchiha's sudden ebb in conviction. "You are only a child, so I don't expect you to understand, but we made the right decision."

And just like that, Sasuke's fury returned in a hot wave, and his blade flashed as it slid through the air and across the throats of the councilors.

-xxx-

Sai watched as Sakura made her way around the room they were hidden in, running her fingers along the walls as though searching for faults.

"What are you doing?" he asked, wondering if there was some other hidden passage he was unaware of.

"There are small holes all along the wall," Sakura answered without looking around at him. "They must go up to the surface – there's air coming through."

"Oh." Sai supposed that explained why they'd been there for such a long time, in addition to burning a candle, without feeling the air getting thin. He supposed the holes were connected to pipes that funneled in air from the surface – if the Uchiha clan had used this room for their secret meetings, they would have needed an outside source of air.

"So...what happens when Sasuke gets back?" Sakura couldn't help asking.

"Lady Tsunade said that you and Sasuke may have to stay here until tomorrow while she sorts everything out," Sai said.

Sakura grimaced – she didn't envy her mentor the task of 'sorting out' three dead council members and a supposedly escaped missing-nin.

Of course, that was assuming everything went according to plan...

A puff of smoke and dust behind her made her whirl around, to find Sasuke standing beside Sai, his features shadowed by the candlelight.

But not so shadowed that she didn't notice that his eyes found her immediately. "You're alright."

It wasn't a question, more of a statement that she had _better_ be alright or someone was going to suffer.

"Yeah – drug's all gone now." Sakura wriggled her healed fingers at him in a little wave to show they had been repaired. "What about you? Did-"

Sakura paused, swallowing – it was strange to think that Sasuke being here meant that the council members were dead.

"Did everything...go alright?" she asked awkwardly, unable to phrase it any better than that.

"Hn."

Sakura sighed, taking that to mean that 'everything' went as well as could be expected.

"That's good," Sai said, smiling. "I will go speak with Lady Tsunade now."

"Wait a sec!" Sakura called, hurrying to his side.

She had no idea what was wrong with Sai, but she could tell something had been bothering him. Something that drove Sakura to throw her arms around him as though he were a little boy in need of comfort.

Sai was stiff in her embrace, unmoving as he tried to determine what he was supposed to do.

"You need to hug me back," she chided.

"The last time I did that, you yelled at me."

"Only because you touched my butt." Sakura thought she saw Sasuke stiffen. "Naruto explained to you about that, right?"

Sai nodded. "Yes, he told me about the difference between what friends could do and what lovers could do."

Sakura released a silent sigh of relief when she felt Sai's arms encircle her – she hadn't been relishing the idea of having to explain _that_ to him as well (their previous conversation had been awkward enough). She and Naruto had privately agreed that Sai had probably gotten the groping idea from watching a couple embrace.

Sakura released him, and Sai gave a bizarrely cheerful goodbye to Sasuke before transporting away, either to the shrine above or straight to Tsunade's office. Sakura didn't know, and a large part of her didn't care – this was the first time she and Sasuke had been alone since Ino had hazarded a reason for their kiss...or at least, the first time they'd been alone and she'd been coherent.

She watched Sasuke take a long drink from one of the bottles Sai had brought them, trying to summon the courage to broach the subject. What could she say? _'Hey Sasuke, why'd you kiss me that one time before Itachi kidnapped me?'_

Even in her head, that sounded stupid. But...

Ino had said he loved her. And looking at his behaviour as objectively as she possibly could (trying to ignore the way her heart rate increased at the mere thought of Sasuke having more than platonic affection for her), she could admit that it was possible.

But only _possible_, and far from certain. If he didn't, and she pushed for something...she could lose whatever respect he'd gained for her, thinking her the same lovesick girl he'd left behind all those years ago. And if he did, and she pushed...what then? With so much behind them, with all the pain Sasuke was carrying...did they have any hope of making a relationship last? Or would they crash and burn, leaving only ashes from which not even a polite friendship could be salvaged?

Was now even the right time to broach the subject? He'd just killed the council members – surely that had to be enough emotional turmoil for one day...maybe she should wait? But if she delayed, even just once, would she ever have the courage to try again?

"What's wrong?" Sasuke's voice intruded upon her thoughts.

Sakura realised that she'd been staring at him with heaven knew what expression on her face – Sasuke must be thinking she was going crazy.

For a moment, Sakura was tempted to brush it off like nothing, to laugh and turn away, to forget what had happened and what Ino had said...

But she didn't. Because she had learned to face her fears...and because she had to know.

"Sasuke...I have to ask you something..."

-xxx-

"_And when the future hinges on the next words that are said, don't let logic interfere, believe your heart instead."_

_-Philip Robison_

-xxx-

_AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye for beta-ing this (and for getting back to me so soon, you wonderful woman)!_


	26. Closing Of The Circle

**Chapter 26**

**Closing Of The Circle**

"_Love is a driver, bitter and fierce if you fight and resist him, easy-going enough once you acknowledge his power."_

_-Ovid_

-xxx-

"And you're quite sure Danzo was interrogating her on who she'd informed of the Uchiha massacre?" Tsunade asked, her eyes piercing.

Sai nodded. "She asserted it once when she was still drugged, and then I confirmed it when she became coherent once again."

Something in Tsunade relaxed. She'd been worried if Danzo's conspiracy to abduct Sakura proved that Madara's version of the massacre was the truth, or if she'd tacitly permitted the assassination of her council on misinterpreted evidence.

But it seemed that the council had indeed been involved in the massacre, or why would Danzo have been interrogating Sakura on who she'd told? No, this was proof that there had been a conspiracy, and that Danzo had acted in an effort to silence Sakura before word of that conspiracy could spread.

Now, she had to deal with the situation she herself had engineered. Search parties were marshalling all over the village, searching for Uchiha Sasuke, the escaped traitor. And because Sakura's arrest wasn't common knowledge, it was all the more damning for Sasuke – instead of two criminals escaping, the searchers believed that Sasuke had kidnapped her...again.

_'Now let's see, how to explain this away?'_ Tsunade pondered as she dismissed Sai from her office. _'We won't go into the details, but I can say that the council was conspiring with the Akatsuki, knowledge of which was brought to me by Sasuke. I can say that they were going to kill Sakura because she interfered with their plans...somehow...and that Sasuke removed her from the village on my orders, for her own protection. That should buy him leniency for his crimes in light of service to the village, and I'll say that the council has been dealt with.'_

In a ninja village, 'dealt with' could mean anything from thrown into jail, placed in interrogation or assassinated. No one questioned the Hokage when they said someone had been 'dealt with'.

But that issue wasn't her only problem – she had Root to handle as well. Danzo was dead, yes...but the rest of the organisation was still intact. And frankly, that could be even more dangerous than if Danzo were still alive and leading them. Now they could go in any number of directions, none of them appealing. The most likely was that they would fracture into small groups without their leader, but that still left Tsunade with many ninjas harbouring secret resentment against Konoha and possessing more than enough skill and connections to make her life extremely difficult.

What could she do? She couldn't lock them up – not on the justification that they _might_ do something – and there were far too many to have them watched.

It suddenly struck the Hokage that she had a perfect advisor in the room. Sai had been a member of Root – one of its most loyal members, by all accounts – and now...he was in her office, after having calmly informed her that they were justified in seeking the council's death; in seeking _Danzo's_ death.

"Sai?" she asked, prompting the young man's dark eyes to meet hers. "What changed?"

At his obvious puzzlement, Tsunade elaborated. "You were loyal to Root and to Danzo once...and now you're not. What changed your mind?"

"They did," Sai said quietly. Tsunade didn't bother asking who 'they' were. "At first I didn't understand them, the things they said, the things they did...they made no sense, not as I understood the world. I was curious, and I tried to get closer to learn more about them. And then I found that the closer I was, the more attached to them I became, the more I understood them."

Because by then he'd become their friend and understood what lengths a person would go to for that sort of bond, Tsunade assumed.

But it did suggest another method of dealing with Root: rehabilitation. If they were put into teams, forced to interact with people outside of Root...they may not like their new teammates, but they'd certainly be forced to feel _something_ for them. Maybe they'd be able to overcome their conditioning and bond with them as Sai had, and perhaps they were capable of greater loyalty because of it. Sai had thought nothing of Naruto and Sakura when they first met, but now...now Tsunade thought the only way he would leave them was if he were killed.

-xxx-

Sasuke stared at Sakura, waiting for her to say something. She'd said she had something to ask him, but nothing more had passed her lips. It was difficult to tell in the candlelight, but she looked as though she were teetering on the brink of some internal struggle.

His first impulse was to move closer, to ask what was wrong, but just as he was about to take a step towards her, her head suddenly jerked upwards, staring straight into his face, green eyes flashing like emerald flames.

"Why did you kiss me?"

Sasuke blinked, the only startle reflex he would allow himself as his whole body tensed. Completely blindsided by her question, he found himself wondering what would be the best response; tell the truth, or lie to save face?

"Because I wanted to," he said at last.

Sakura scowled. "You'll have to do better than that, Sasuke. Why was kissing me something you'd even want to do in the first place?"

It was Sasuke's turn to scowl. Didn't she know? Hadn't he been blindingly, humiliatingly obvious? Did she derive some malicious pleasure of dragging it out him, making him say it so she could laugh in his face?

But he knew Sakura wasn't like that, and that only made it worse.

He pressed his lips together mulishly and didn't answer.

Sakura felt a sickeningly familiar pain begin to radiate from somewhere in her chest. She should have known. She shouldn't have listened to Ino, shouldn't have listened to her stupid, lovesick heart – she should have _known_ it would be like this...

Sasuke expected her to press the point – perhaps was even hoping for her to press the point – but her eyes clouded in a way that made his throat sting, and she turned away, her lips twisting into a self-depreciating grimace, her face full of regret and recriminations...

And something in Sasuke snapped. He lunged forward, seizing her shoulder and spinning her around to face him.

"I kissed you because I wanted to," he repeated, his voice low and furious. She wanted to know why – fine, he'd tell her why, and if she didn't like it then that was her problem! "I was letting you go – I was trying to do the right thing by you for once – but before you went I wanted...I wanted..."

Sakura was bewildered, her brain running in circles like a neurotic hamster. She wondered if Sasuke was consciously aware that he was shaking, practically vibrating with anger and accusation...and something else, something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"I wanted to kiss you," Sasuke said again, his voice rising. "I wanted to know that no matter what happened, I at least had that – I at least knew what it was like to, to..."

Sakura's face went slack as she finally understood what was written on Sasuke's face. Her lungs collapsed inwards in shock, forcing her breath out in a surprised huff as her heart rate rose so suddenly it was almost painful.

Ino had been right.

Sasuke could see comprehension settle in Sakura's eyes, her face softening. Expecting scorn – or worse, pity – Sasuke lashed out like a whipped dog, settling a sneer on his face and speaking in his most condescending tone.

"Are you happy now?"

And Sakura smiled. But there was no pity in it, no mockery, and Sasuke's grip on her arm loosened in confusion.

Then Sakura's arms were around him, hugging him tightly, her head resting against his chest.

This was not the reaction he'd been expecting – he hadn't anticipated her sunny smile, nor the embrace, nor the way she seemed so elated. As though she were honestly happy about this...as though she were...

"You..." _'feel the same? Still?' _was what he was going to say, but she simply nodded silently after the first word.

A relieved huff of breath forced its way past his lips, and if he had been a different man, Sasuke might have laughed.

Sakura was grinning into Sasuke's chest, feeling almost giddy, and wondering if jumping for joy or something equally childish would give Sasuke the wrong impression. But any display like that would require letting go of him, which Sakura didn't feel like doing anytime soon...

So instead, she stood on tiptoe to press a kiss against his cheek. But Sasuke, apparently noticing her movement, tilted his head and leaned down, slanting his lips over hers.

Sakura – expecting to touch smooth skin and instead feeling soft, slightly moist lips against her own – made a little noise of shock, her body tensing. She might have stepped backwards in surprise if Sasuke hadn't been holding her; a gentle pressure at her lower spine and the back of her neck to keep her pressed to him.

Some small, still-lucid part of her brain not whooping in glee or silently basking in the moment noted that Sasuke seemed to have gotten a lot bolder since their last kiss. But that was probably to be expected – he hadn't had any idea how she'd react to the last one, but he knew that his gesture was welcome this time.

Then Sakura told her ever-churning brain to shut up and enjoy the moment because _she was kissing Sasuke!_ Despite knowing it was medically impossible, her heart felt like it was doing cartwheels behind her ribs.

But the mood was slaughtered when a puff of smoke and dust rose to the side of them, and Naruto's loud voice cut through the air like a serrated blade.

"Hey – _oh my god, I'm blind!_"

"You're not blind," Kakashi said dryly as Sasuke and Sakura sprang apart in shock.

"Well, I wish I was!" the blonde wailed theatrically.

"Considering that you traveled around Fire Country for almost three years with Jiraiya, I'd imagined your tolerance was stronger than this," the jounin commented.

He glanced at the couple that had inspired such a dramatic reaction – not that anything about Naruto was ever mundane – and tried not to laugh aloud when he saw Sakura covering her cheeks in an effort to conceal the blush that was spreading across her skin while Sasuke scowled at Naruto, looking as though he were contemplating punching his friend in the mouth.

"That was only those stupid books," Naruto snorted, sounding scandalised. "This is Sakura and the bastard! It's like...it's like watching your brother and sister make out! _With each other!_"

"Naruto..." Sakura groaned.

"Idiot," Sasuke growled.

"Have some pity on them, Naruto," Kakashi snickered. "That was probably their first kiss – did you see how uninspired it was?"

Sakura resisted the urge to break both their jaws. "Is there some reason you two showed up?"

"Awww, don't be like that, Sakura," Naruto whined. "We wanted to make sure you were alright."

Sakura tried for indignation, she really did – reminding herself again and again that they had interrupted her first real kiss with Sasuke (at least, the first one she'd been cognizant enough to respond to) – but she felt her anger melting away when she thought back on what Sai had told her had happened, when she realised how much she must have worried them.

If Naruto ever figured out that all he had to do to avert her anger was tug on her heartstrings a little, she'd be in serious trouble.

"Sai's helping Granny get everything straightened out," Naruto said brightly, apparently forgetting his earlier theatrics. "But you guys have to stay here for a while, so I thought we could keep you company."

He smirked, his tone turning salacious. "I never guessed you guys would be entertaining yourselves..."

"Shut up, idiot!" Sasuke bristled.

Naruto burst into huge whoops of laughter. "Damn, you guys move fast, don't you? Sasuke's barely been back in the village for two days and you're already making with the kissy-face! I thought it'd be at least a couple of months!"

Sakura wondered if it was possible to die of embarrassment.

Apparently sensing that Sasuke wasn't going to stand for much more of Naruto's teasing before he did something violent and messy to the blonde, Kakashi produced a pack of cards, attempting a mollifying gesture.

"We can play poker, at least."

"Oh no, we're not!" Sakura snapped. She could just _see_ a poker match turning into a battle to the death with Naruto and Sasuke at the table.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, silently challenging her to come up with another option.

"We are not playing something as tense as poker," she said. "We're going to play something calm and harmless – like Go Fish or something..."

-xxx-

"What will happen to Sasuke's 'Team Hebi'?" Yamato asked.

He and Sai were helping Tsunade in her attempt to smooth things over...at least enough so that Sasuke wouldn't have a few murder charges added to his accusations.

"I'll release them as soon as this business with Sasuke is taken care of, but we'll keep an eye on them," Tsunade answered.

Neither Sai nor Yamato commented on this. They and the rest of the ANBU knew of the intelligence several of their spies had gathered that suggested that Akatsuki were preparing to launch an all-out assault against Konoha, and under the threat of war, the village needed every shinobi it could get.

So even if Team Hebi had been a part of Sound and their trustworthiness was rather questionable, Tsunade wasn't above using them to benefit the village – as long as they were watched.

-xxx-

"Fives?"

"What was that, Mr. Uncommunicative Asshole?" Naruto asked, his voice dripping false sweetness like thick syrup.

Sasuke ground his teeth and said, in a very carefully contained voice that bespoke murderous rage, "Do you have any fives?"

"Go fish, loser!" Naruto bellowed, making the others wince as his triumphant voice rebounded off the stone walls.

Sasuke snatched at the deck with an audible growl.

"And here I was hoping for a friendly, casual game..." Sakura muttered ruefully. "Where did that go wrong?"

"Your mistake was forgetting that Naruto and Sasuke can turn anything into a competition," Kakashi commented from above his own hand of cards and his usual bright orange book.

"No, my mistake was thinking that my teammates had an ounce of common sense and perspective between them," the medic groused. "Guys, it's a card game – _calm down!_"

"Yeah, Sasuke, don't be such a sore loser," Naruto smirked. "Accept your inevitable defeat and humiliation at the hands of the future Hokage-"

"Shut up, Idiot."

"I'm not an idiot, Bastard – you're the idiot! You can't even win a game of Go Fish!"

"It's based on chance, not skill!" Sasuke snarled.

"So says the loser! The one who will soon bow down to my awesomeness!"

"Guys?" Sakura tried to interject as the voices rose louder. "_Guys?_"

They were either ignoring her – unlikely, considering that even if Sasuke hadn't learned not to do that by now, Naruto certainly had – or they couldn't hear her over the racket their own voices were making.

Sakura sighed, and was tempted to throw her cards down in disgust. "Fine, go ahead – kill each other over a stupid card game, see if I care..."

"If you get any louder, we might be discovered," Kakashi interjected, his voice mild, as though the prospect wasn't really anything to be concerned about.

Sakura knew there wasn't a large risk – they were underground, and even if the noise somehow made it through those tiny pipes that served as ventilation, it was unlikely anyone would be passing by to hear. But Sakura wasn't willing to take the chance; at the moment, Sasuke was believed to have taken her from Konoha, and she didn't want to think about what would happen if they were founding hiding beneath the Uchiha's shrine.

So the medic threw her cards on the floor, stood up, and played her usual role; that of moderator between Naruto and Sasuke. Even as she pulled the boys apart by their collars, some nostalgic part of her was revelling in the familiarity of the actions – for a moment, she could almost believe they'd never been parted.

Their attention arrested by the jerk on their clothing, both Naruto and Sasuke paused in their ranting for a moment, and a moment was all Sakura needed.

"Both of you, shut up!" she hissed. "Do you want to get us caught? This is a nice, friendly game of cards and it's going to stay that way! Naruto, if you provoke Sasuke again I swear I will hurt so badly not even the Kyuubi will be able to bail you out! And Sasuke, stop rising to Naruto's bait or I'll kick your ass again! I swear, it's like whenever you two are together, all your brain cells just turn off..."

But Naruto, at least, had lost interest in Sakura's rant. "Again?"

Sakura blinked, thrown by the apparent non-sequitur. "What?"

"You said you'd kick his ass _again_," Naruto said, a grin slowly rising on his face, getting broader by the moment. "So...does that mean you've already kicked his ass?"

Sakura dimly realised that Kakashi had actually lowered his ever-present book, and was studying them with rapt attention. Sasuke had crossed his arms over his chest and was currently scowling at the wall.

"Um...well..." Sakura fumbled for words. "Well, yeah, but you see-"

Naruto had heard nothing beyond the 'yeah'. "_You did kick his ass! Sakura kicked the bastard's ass!"_

The blonde let out a laugh that was rather on the maniacal side. "I have to tell everyone in the village, right now!"

"Actually, it would be a bad idea to tell everyone right now," Kakashi reminded him. "You'll have to wait until tomorrow."

But Naruto's spirits weren't dampened in the slightest. "So, Sasuke-bastard....coupled with that whole kissing-thing, does that make you Sakura's bitch now?"

Sakura tried not to laugh – she really did. Sasuke was looking as though he were seriously considering flaying Naruto alive, and she was sure her laughing wouldn't improve his mood at all.

But when her stomach muscles started to spasm, Sakura knew she had to let it out before she tore something.

Sasuke's scowl etched deeper into his face as he heard the medic laughing so hard she began to degenerate into hiccups and snorts, before leaving the realm of sound entirely and shaking with silent guffaws. Dammit, he couldn't beat the idiot up now – not if he was making her laugh for the first time since she'd been tortured...

Naruto beamed, looking strangely proud of himself, and Sasuke realised he had probably been clowning around deliberately in an effort to get a laugh out of the pink-haired woman. Naruto really was a lot more perceptive than most people gave him credit for.

The blonde watched Sasuke's irritation grudgingly melt off his face as Sakura continued to laugh, and felt like puffing out his chest with pride. And laughing at the fact that the medic already seemed to have Sasuke twined around her little finger, but that could wait.

He had been shocked to find them kissing, and yet at the same time, he wasn't really surprised. He had been expecting something like this to happen, just not so soon. Naruto didn't know if anyone else had noticed it – no one else really knew Sasuke the way he, Sakura and Kakashi did – but to him, Sasuke hadn't been particularly subtle in his affections. Coming from anyone else, his behaviour would probably indicate mild interest in Sakura, but coming from Sasuke...well, it was practically a declaration of undying love and devotion.

And no matter how much Sakura had tried to pretend otherwise, he knew her feelings for Sasuke hadn't changed. She had probably thought she'd done a good job of smothering them, of burying them so deeply they could be mistaken for friendship and nothing more...but Naruto knew better.

The night after their disastrous encounter with Sasuke in Orochimaru's base, he'd gone to her house with some instant ramen and chocolate ice cream – vaguely recalling her mentioning it as her 'comfort food' – with the idea that they could eat, maybe watch some sort of comedic movie that would make them laugh, and in general cheer each other up. But when he'd climbed onto her balcony, intent on surprising her, he'd found her sitting on her bed, her head bent over the picture of Team 7 they all possessed copies of, tears sliding silently down her cheeks.

Naruto – knowing that sometimes, people preferred to be alone to grieve – had slipped quietly back into the night. But he hadn't forgotten that moment, that split-second when he realised Sakura's affections for Sasuke hadn't cooled in the slightest.

So the blonde had sort of been expecting to catch them in a liplock someday...just not quite so soon.

Kakashi's thoughts were much the same as Naruto's. Given Sasuke's track record in dealing with relationships and bonds, he had expected the Uchiha to at first be completely unaware of the fact that he was in love with Sakura, and then attempt to ignore or suppress the emotion for as long as he possibly could.

He'd expected at least a good six months of drama and procrastination before Sasuke and Sakura reached anything close to the point they'd obviously already surpassed – and though he was certainly happy for his former students, some part of him did feel a little cheated that he wasn't going to be able to laugh and tease them as they danced around each other.

Then it occurred to him that they might have already done it – the tiptoeing around the issue part, at least. Sasuke and Sakura had been travelling with Team Hebi for a little over a week only, but they'd been alone together in Sound for some time beforehand, in the same room, in the same bed if Sakura was to be believed (and now Kakashi's Icha Icha soaked imagination was running wild with that information).

It was a surprise when another burst of smoke disrupted the tableau, signalling another person transporting themselves into the room. Shinobi did not take surprises well, and everyone in the room was ready to fight long before they realised it was Sai.

"Hey, Sai," Naruto greeted, looking positively chipper. "Did you know Sasuke is Sakura's bitch?"

Sasuke snarled, Sakura giggled, and Kakashi's visible eye crinkled in a wide, genuine smile of pure amusement. One thing the silver-haired man could always depend on; Team 7 were never boring. Frustrating, worrying, downright scary at times...but never boring.

Sai blinked – a long, slow blink, the kind he used as a stall tactic when he was thinking over his response. "And this is unusual?"

Sakura stopped laughing, looking as puzzled as Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi felt.

Interpreting their expressions as a request for more information, Sai elaborated, "Kiba had a discussion with me on female teammates, and he said that Ugly was very scary, that Naruto was whipped, and that every male on Team 7 was her bitch. He was a little intoxicated at the time, though, so I'm not certain if his claims can be held as valid."

"Don't call me Ugly," Sakura said automatically into the silence that had followed his statement.

"Yeah...heh...you know Kiba – can't hold his liquor..." Naruto tried to joke. He wasn't about to confirm it and look like an idiot...but he wasn't going to deny it, either, just in case Sakura was in a sadistic enough to mood to prove to him why Kiba had been right.

"Is there some reason you came here?" Kakashi asked. "Is there a problem?"

"The Hokage told me she didn't want my help anymore, and to find my team."

Sakura supposed that made sense. In all the 'smoothing over' she would be forced to do, there'd probably be quite a bit of diplomatic influence needed, alongside her usual aura of 'do what I say because I'm the Hokage'.

And diplomacy simply wasn't Sai's strong point.

So Sakura smiled and, despite knowing she was asking for trouble, invited Sai to join their game.

-xxx-

Sasuke did not sigh aloud, but he slumped a little on his cot, wondering when Tsunade and the newly-appointed council were going to finish deciding his punishment.

Not that he was particularly eager to find out what they were going to do to him, but he couldn't stand the anticipation anymore!

He couldn't deny that he was still a little worried about the possibility of execution. It wasn't unheard of for Hokages to kill off their most dangerous, unstable assassins before they got out of hand – it wouldn't only be easy for Tsunade to order him executed now that he'd gotten rid of the council for her, it would probably be prudent; eliminating him in case he talked.

But of course, if she was going to kill him simply to keep him quiet, she'd also have to kill Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi, Sai, and all the people who'd helped them. And Sasuke didn't think Tsunade would deliberately harm him now that he and Sakura were...whatever they were to each other.

He didn't know if one (well, two) kisses suddenly meant they were in a relationship, but he decided it meant they were on their way to having one. He and Sakura hadn't really had a chance to discuss it further – Naruto, Kakashi and Sai had stayed with them for the rest of night, and he'd had to go back to prison in the morning, to prove to the new council that he was relatively harmless and willing to accept whatever was going to happen to him.

Some part of him was relieved that, no matter what happened now, he and Sakura had at least partly settled things between them.

"Hello, Sasuke." Sai's strangely cheerful greeting pulled him from his thoughts.

Kakashi rose from his deceptively casual pose against the wall, pocketing the book he'd been leafing through and making a vague hand gesture that Sasuke interpreted as a goodbye as he left the bleak corridor outside the Uchiha's cell.

Though the council had been dealt with, Tsunade had thought it prudent to keep a guard posted at Sasuke's cell, just in case Madara conjured up some other plan to strike at them. Naruto was now acting as Sakura's shadow, just in case the Akatsuki tried to attack her again.

Sai took up Kakashi's post at one corner of the cell, withdrew his sketchbook and a piece of charcoal, and started drawing. After a few moments, Sasuke noticed the basic outline of a lakeshore beginning to take shape.

But the dark-haired boy kept sketching – with a speed that rather impressed Sasuke – detailing a fox lapping at the water beneath the shade of a blossoming sakura tree.

Sasuke wondered if it was coincidence that the drawing seemed to contain veiled references to Naruto and Sakura. Sai finished the sketch and eyed it with a critical yet strangely longing gaze, his fingers hovering over it as though he wanted to touch it but didn't want to take the chance of smudging it.

"I...have difficulty drawing people," he volunteered to Sasuke. "I don't really know why."

He didn't really know why he was trying to connect with the Uchiha – perhaps because he had gained a measure of comfort from Sakura's insistence that he was part of the Team 7 family and they weren't about to abandon him, and so he was willing to at least try to accept the man she and Naruto considered so important.

"Someday, I wish to sketch Naruto and Sakura," he continued. "So I am trying to work my way up to actual drawing them by including some representation of them in my sketches."

Sasuke stared at the etching, at the fox and sakura tree that Sai had drawn because he had a mental block against drawing people, and felt a stir of something close to pity.

"Hey, bastard!" Naruto's loud, cheerful voice rang down the corridor, and both Sai and Sasuke turned.

Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi and Tsunade were making their way towards Sasuke's cell, and the Uchiha noted that there was a scroll tucked under the Hokage's arm.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Tsunade began, gesturing for Kakashi to unlock the cell. "You have been found guilty of deserting the village-"

"We know all that stuff, Granny!" Naruto interrupted. "What are they going to do to him?"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed, but she went on, apparently as keen to get this over with as everyone else.

"Your chakra will be sealed," she addressed Sasuke. "And you will remain on probation indefinitely with monthly reviews of your behaviour. The probation will be lifted when I decide you have proven yourself."

"See, that's not so bad, bastard," Naruto enthused. "I was worried they have you do something weird, like cut off a hand or something in penance-"

"I don't think we use mutilation as punishment anymore," Sakura pointed out.

"Yeah, I thought it was a pretty gross idea..."

"Where did you even get the idea in the first place, idiot?" Sasuke muttered as he was released from his cell.

"Sakura lent me this book about samurai; have you ever heard about them? Some of the things they did are creepy!"

"Ninjas did a lot of those things, too," Sai pointed out.

"Well, yeah...but come on – we're so much cooler than stupid samurai! We dress better for one-"

As though on cue, everyone glanced at Naruto's bright orange clothing.

The blonde boy frowned. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Children, if we're finished here?" Tsunade growled. "I'd like to start the sealing now."

-xxx-

Sasuke kneaded at the marks wrapped around his wrist, scowling as it twinged. His body was still trying to adapt to suddenly having his chakra cut off from him, and it wasn't pleasant.

"Hey, it looks like you're wearing a bracelet!" Naruto laughed. "One of those fancy, lacy, girly-type ones!"

"Naruto, be nice!" Sakura scolded.

Sasuke smirked, feeling strangely nostalgic. They were sitting at Ichiraku's, Naruto was taunting him, Sakura was defending him...it was almost as though he'd never left.

"I didn't think Naruto was being cruel," Sai pointed out. "I thought he was merely making an observation. The seal _does_ look like a bracelet."

Sasuke scowled, and Sai gave him a bland smile.

"Ignore him," Sakura said, twirling her chopsticks in her bowl of ramen. "That's what we usually do."

"If you ignore me, why do you get so angry when I call you Ugly, Ugly?"

"Sai, I'm doing my best to eat a meal with you guys in relative peace for once, so I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

Sasuke smirked again. Things weren't quite the same as they had been...but maybe that was a good thing. Sakura's hand sneaked into his under the table, fingers intertwining, and he decided that yes, it _was_ a good thing.

"Hey, move over, Princess – we want to pull up a seat."

Sakura spun around, dropping Sasuke's hand in surprise.

Suigetsu, Karin, Juugo and Kakashi were standing behind them.

"Tsunade let them out of prison, but she wants them watched, so they're your problem now," their former teacher informed them.

"We're no one's problem!" Karin hissed indignantly.

"Hey, you can't just dump some stupid guard duty on us just because you're too lazy to do it yourself!" Naruto objected.

"Yes I can – I outrank you," Kakashi pointed out.

"Pulling rank is a sissy's move!" the blonde bellowed. "Hey, don't you wimp out and run away-"

But it was too late – Kakashi had vanished in a swirl of dust and leaves.

"Hey, Suigetsu, Juugo, Karin," Sakura said, nodding to each of them in turn.

Suigetsu and Juugo smiled – Suigetu's grin showing several more teeth than the blonde's – and Karin gave a vague nod back.

"Hey, Sasuke," the redhead greeted, giving the Uchiha a broad, almost simpering smile.

Sasuke grunted.

"I'm glad you're okay," Juugo commented to Sakura as Team Hebi took their seats.

"Was there some reason she shouldn't be okay?" Suigetsu asked.

Sakura and Naruto gave Hebi a brief summary of what had happened.

"And hey, thanks for telling us about the arrest," Naruto finished, grinning at Juugo. "Maybe people in Sound aren't such total dicks after all."

Sakura winced, and Karin looked affronted. But before the redhead could say anything, Suigetsu cut in.

"Dammit, I knew you guys were having fun without me!"

"I don't think it was fun," Sai pointed out. "Fun is something you enjoy, and I did not enjoy it."

"Well, what do you know?" Suigetsu retorted. "You look like you haven't had fun in about ten years."

Sakura rolled her eyes and fought the urge to bury her head in her hands – there went her hope for a peaceful meal.

She felt a hand brush her own, and jerked her head up to find Sasuke looking at her, his hand just resting against her own, as though he were somehow unsure of his welcome. Sakura slipped her fingers into his, smiling as a bubble of warmth swelled slowly in her chest.

"I knew it, I knew it!" Suigetsu suddenly crowed. "I _knew_ you were doing her, I _knew_ it!"

"Yes, Naruto informs me that Sasuke is now Ugly's bitch," Sai chimed in helpfully.

Sakura slammed her forehead against the table and left it there as Sasuke scowled. Suigetsu and Naruto were both roaring with laughter, of course, until Karin hit Suigetsu and caused his watery form to splatter across the table.

Naruto stopped laughing in shock, staring as Suigetsu's head reformed from the water. "That's just creepy."

"What, never seen anything like this in your wussy little village?" the white-haired man taunted.

"Konoha ain't wussy!"

Sakura sighed and tuned them out to focus on what Juugo was saying to her. "So you and Sasuke are dating now?"

"Uhh..." Sakura didn't really have an answer. She supposed she and Sasuke were stumbling towards a relationship, but she didn't think she could call it 'dating'. It just didn't seem to fit...but what else could she call it?

"Yes, we are," Sasuke snapped from beside her.

Sakura couldn't contain the grin that suddenly burst onto her face, nor the pleased blush that rose to her cheeks. But as she turned to share that smile with Sasuke, she couldn't help but notice Karin slump a little in her seat. Remembering the redhead's fanatical devotion to the Uchiha, Sakura mentally braced herself for a blistering putdown...

But it never came. Karin remained silent. And now that Sakura thought about it, she realised the other woman had been unusually subdued during their impromptu gathering. Suigetsu and Naruto were arguing about something – Sakura couldn't be bothered to find out what – Sai was watching them with interest and Juugo was now peering at the menu...but Karin was just sitting there, staring listlessly into space.

"Is something wrong with her?" she muttered to Juugo in an undertone.

Juugo shrugged. "She has been very quiet since we were let out of prison."

"Is she sick?" Sakura wondered. While Konoha's cells were usually clean, germs could accumulate easily and rapidly in such an enclosed environment.

"Suigetsu has been telling her for some time that Sasuke is in love with you – I think she's merely bitter he was right."

Sakura blinked. "We...were we that obvious?"

Juugo shrugged. "In some ways."

Wanting to steer the conversation away from the idea that most of Team Hebi had apparently been anticipating her and Sasuke hooking up from the start, Sakura inquired about his rages.

"I can probably have a look at that as soon as tomorrow – if I can take a sample of your blood I may be able to isolate the chemical compounds that-"

"Geez, Sakura, can't you turn off the workaholic mode for five minutes?" Naruto interrupted.

"At least she's actually doing something useful," Sasuke pointed out. "Unlike you, idiot."

"I do plenty of useful things! Hey, Sai, back me up here!"

"You were just now arguing with Suigetsu over whether Konoha is 'wussy'" Sai pointed out in that deadpan way of his that could make any sentence irritating. "I do not know if that can be classed as useful, seeing as whether Suigetsu believes Konoha 'wussy' or not does not impact our lives in any real way."

There were a few moments of silence, which Sakura took as Hebi finally realising the full scale of Sai's bizarreness.

"You don't get out much, do you?" Suigetsu said eventually.

"I am an active member of the Leaf roster and I go on many missions," Sai replied, with the air of one correcting a simple misunderstanding.

"Anyone done one of those 'special' tests on this guy?" Suigetsu muttered.

Both Sakura and Naruto scowled, but surprisingly it was Karin who spoke up first, with a scathing, "Grow up, imbecile."

Which of course set Suigetsu off. Sakura wondered fleetingly if she should attempt an intervention, but decided not to move since Sasuke was still holding her hand. Juugo rose instead and tried to separate them, which wasn't really working because – apparently loathe to just wrench them apart as Sakura would have done – he was merely holding his hands up placatingly and imploring them to quiet down.

"I'm so going to kill Kakashi for dumping these guys on us," Naruto grumbled. "Big blonde ain't so bad, but the other two..."

"Perhaps they merely need to acclimatise," Sai mused. "I've heard that when you remove an animal from its accustomed environment, they grow irritable. Perhaps the same holds true for humans?"

Sakura snickered. "Actually, this is pretty much what they're like all the time."

"Man..." Naruto whined. "Why'd you have to pick up such jerks, Sasuke?"

"They were useful, and then Sakura grew attached to Suigetsu and Juugo, so she would have objected had I expressly forbidden them from coming to Konoha," Sasuke explained.

Sakura grinned, then leaned over and kissed Sasuke's cheek swiftly...just because she could.

Naruto, spotting the faint blush lighting Sasuke's cheekbones, gleefully recreated the sound of a cracking whip.

"It's quite immature to lash out just because you're jealous," Sasuke retorted.

"Che, the future Hokage can have any lady he wants, and don't you forget it!"

Sakura shook her head, sharing a wry smile with Sai and receiving one of his slightly less unsettling ones in return. Ignoring the background noise of Team Hebi's argument, the medic tucked into her ramen one-handed (seeing as her other was still being held by Sasuke) and prepared to be entertained by one of Naruto and Sasuke's more intelligent fights – that is, one that would hopefully remain purely verbal and wouldn't be the same insults tossed back and forth ad nauseum.

She didn't know what the future would hold for them, and even though cold hard logic was telling her the Akatsuki were bound to become a very present problem soon, she took comfort from the fact that, whatever was coming, they'd face it together.

So Sakura smiled as she ate her ramen, before deciding to test a slowly forming theory in her mind; would Sasuke stop arguing with Naruto if she kissed him in mid-sentence?

It turned out yes, he would.

-xxx-

"_For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof; the work for which all other work is but preparation."_

_-Rainer Maria Rilke_

**End.**

_AN: And that's it! The Ripples saga has finally come to a close. Thanks so very much to justcallmefaye, who faithfully beta-d each and every chapter, and to all my reviewers! Special mention to my anonymous reviewers, who I couldn't reply to, but who helped to raise my count to what it is now – I've never had so many reviews for one story (is it bad that thrills me so much?)._


End file.
